This week’s question looks at an announcement from scientists operating NASA’s Kepler satellite, who reported this week that they had identified 1,235 possible planets orbiting other stars, potentially three times the previously recorded number. Although no Earth-like planet has been determined yet, fifty-four of the possible exoplanets are in habitable zones of stars where temperatures should be moderate enough for liquid water.
What do you think? Is there another “Earth” out there, fit for life as we know it? Yes or no?
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As usual, that depends on your definition of “Earth.” If you mean another rocky planet within a factor of two in size compared to Earth, with liquid surface water and a reasonable (not necessarily breathable by us) atmosphere, the answer is emphatically “yes.”
If you mean another rocky planet that also has evolved life readily recognizable by us, maybe not.
The recent discoveries that multi-planet systems are commonplace and the growing ability to detect “small” (Earth-sized, more or less) planets in Goldilocks orbits all point to the high likelihood of there being multiple planets on which life COULD have developed. Knowing whether life ever DID develop on any of those may remain beyond our ability to determine.
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I would say that we would be pretty conceded to think that we are the only ones. There is just way too much out there for there not to be. I am not saying we will ever be able to reach these planets but I am sure they are out there.
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To reiterate … are there planets “fit for life”? Absolutely … it’s a big universe. Statistically speaking, the odd are pretty good that another habitable planet exists.
However, this does not infer that developed life forms are there. We have no hard evidence either for or against that possibility … unless you believe the rumors about Area 51 and reports of “alien abduction”. LOL
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Just on the basis of odds, and statistical probability, it is pretty likely. Now if we ever reach the point technologically to actually witness or experience such a revelation, that will remain the challenge of the ages.
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We would be selfish to think we are the only ones in such a vast universe. We will find life similar to us in time.
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Statistically yes there have to be loads of planets similar to Earth.
It disturbs me that scientists are wasting so much resource catalogging exo-planets. OK it was science to devise the methods for identifying them, but its not science to catalog them. Why get so excited when one turns up that is nearly the same size or nearly in the right orbit. Its not going to change anything.
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I remember what Carl Sagan said on his TV Series “Cosmos” – “There are billions, upon billions, upon billions of stars – the chance of life on them is very good!” I’d say that’s a big, fat, YES!
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Absolutely. And its now time to begin work in earnest on the vehicles to propel us to the stars. Time to take off the myoptic glasses and renew our (human) push into the final frontier.
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Yes. If the laws of physics are indeed the same everywhere, then how could there NOT be another victory for carbon chemistry out there?
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Will it be earth and humans as we know it? Maybe, but other life certainly exists in our universe or another one. We should continue to explore the possibilities by continuing our space program indefinately. Our population may need to go to such a place in the distant future.
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Simple probability math will force us to answer yes to that question. However, the fact that earthlike planets likely exist does not force the conclusion that life exists on those same planets.
Keep in mind the anthromorphic association problem when attempting to draw conclusions about intelligence in the animal kingdom. Since when does “life” require earthlike planets? Life as we humans understand it does require those parameters. When was it determined that our version of life is the only version that exists?
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Yes.
As others have already pointed out, the possibility of (1) exists and can be easily proven (we live there now). Statistically, does another exist within our perspective? Basically, can we see it, can we reach it, and can we survive long enough as a species to go to it?
Not only does it need to be in the “Goldilocks” state. We need to be able to detect it and reach it within a time frame before it exits the “Goldilocks” state.
Lick Chris P, I am not conceded enough to think we got the only “Earth” ever. The real question is, do we think our species will ever habitat another “Earth” or “Goldilocks” planet?
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Considering the number of stars that we know of, and the probable number that we do not know about,the probability of another planet somewhere that could support life as we know it is extremely close to unity. The probability of life as we know it having evolved is much lower because there are numerous factors without which life on earth would be very different if it had evolved at all.
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Given the vastness of the universe and the continuing growth of discoveries (within our own galaxy locale) due to improving observatory technology, the odds appear highly in favor of the existence of Earth-like exoplanets that can sustain life.
Furthermore, we continue to discover unknown species in the most inhospitable earthly environments, such that their relevance to our own existence cannot be discerned. So it seems plausible, though not necessary, that the Creator might have peppered His universe with life here and there. Mankind might never know for certain.
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There is undoubtedly another planet somewhere in the universe, prabaly many others, that exist in a temperature range where liquid water is possible. Whether that would constitute another “earth” is more complicated, but again there is probaly another planet somewhere that has more than just liquid water in common with earth. The chances of that not being the case are infinitesmal considering the number of stars.
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I voted yes, because the term “out there” implies anywhere in the Universe. As to whether such a planet exists within the bounds of our corner of the Milky Way where we have the ability to detect its existence, I think the jury is still out.
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Without a doubt there are other “Earth-like” planets. Maybe some with carbon-based life forms. However, the odds of intelligent life drop off dramatically if you consider; a) how many species have gone extinct on this planet (most just don’t live long enough to evolve intelligence) and b) with intelligence also comes the accelerated chance of self-extinction. There may have been intelligent species before us, possibly even on this planet, but intelligence itself seldom includes wisdom enough to prevent self annihilation.
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No.
And if I’m wrong I sincerely hope we neve find it because it will just be another playground for our limited humanity to first not understand and then to destroy it’s delicate balance. As for some of the comments that evolution is a contributor to the possibility of evolving carbon life forms, get real – that is still a bad theory on it’s very best day – ape man.
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Good article. Very well written
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Another Earth out there fit for life?…. our own Earth is not even fit for life because of the internal combustion engine…. I would write more about this topic but my private jet is idling on the runway and god knows I want to keep my carbon footprint low — I am off to visit a polar bear poop green energy plant that I just had constructed in the middle of the Amazon jungle using some TARP funds.
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When we find another planet that meets all of the criteria for life , liquid water and chocolate, it will probably be more than a thousand light years distant. Then what do we do? We had better concentrate on keeping the Earth habitable. Let us turn our powerfull telescopes around and look very close in our own backyard and clean up the mess.
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Yes, of course. An assumption of mediocrity is very appropriate: in general, one can assume that the situation at hand is typical or average. Values in the neighborhood of the average are generally the largest proportion of a distribution. Our solar system is most likely closer to the average than to an extreme.
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I say Yes, based on the number of other suns in the universe. Probability dictates that there is a good chance one exists. Until we humans discover how to travel at the speed of light, there is no chance humans from this planet will be calling it home.
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As an Engineer, I am convinced that there are other planets out there that are duplicates of our earth. In Carl Sagan’s terminology, there are Beelions and Beelions of stars just in our universe. That doesn’t account for other universes that probably exist. With that unimaginable quantity of stars out there, it would be unthinkable to assume that there are not also unimaaginable quantities of planets like ours doing their thing of making trips around their stars on a regular or irregular basis and creating constant periodic time periods favorable to whatever beings exist there. And. some of those beings could be intelligent life forms such as has evolved on our Earth. Perhaps someday there will be space travel at or greater than the speed of light to enable a first hand look at some of those promising planets. Keep checking the eleven O’clock news. After all, communuicable intelligence only dates back a few thousand years on this planet all of which makes us infantile compared to what may have transpired elsewhere. After all, biblical history was all generated in the middle east whose inhabitants thought of that as the world. They weren’t aware that there were people like Chinese on the other side living in the same kind of isolation. That equates to how little we really know about the unlimited space that is out there and what really exists beyond our reach.
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The list of criteria required for a planet to support advanced life is much longer than just how far is it from its star. Planet size affects the nature and density of the atmosphere it will hold. How circular is its orbit (more circular = stable climate to foster life)? What is its speed of rotation( too fast = high wind shear, too slow = wide diurnal temperature swings)? Does it have a moon to stabilize its rotation? What kind of galaxy does it reside in (elliptical = high general radiation bombardment, spiral = available habitable zones)? Where in that galaxy (habitable zone = about halfway between center & edge, and between not in one of the arms)? What kind of star – stable burning or variable? Influence of neighboring planets – any big brothers like Jupiter lying outboard in its solar system to protect the interior planets from comets (recall Shoemaker-Levy 9)? Does it have a strong magnetic field (like the VanAllen belts) to protect the surface inhabitants from cosmic radiation? There are ongoing studies of how all these factors combine to foster planetary habitability. What started as a primitive model with only 2 criteria in 1966 now includes more than 120 physical characteristics considered necessary and that must fall within narrow ranges, in order for a planet to support advanced life. The statistical likelihood for each factor alone has been generally found to be slim but believable. However, the mathematical likelihood of meeting them all – like the Earth does – has been determined to be 1 chance out of a greater figure than the total number of protons in the universe! (1 in 10^140 statistical chance for a planet to satisfy all criteria, vs Eddington number 1.57 x 10^79 protons.) Mathematically speaking, the wonder of life in the universe is not that it could occur in numerous places, rather that it occurred in even one place borders on the miraculous.
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In order for there to be other worlds out there exactly like Earth, they would have to have developed semi-advanced life forms so that Oxygen could be produced in the atmosphere and seas and cause the chemical reactions that made our planet look like it does today. Earth was not fit for life as we know it before the less picky semi-advanced life forms terraformed it by shear numbers and time. There may be many thousands or millions of planets that are “in the zone”, but may not have developed life when the opportunity was there, and so they don’t look very much like Earth now nor will they ever.
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YES! That’s a no-brainer. In our own galaxy, the odds for other oxygen/water planets that could support humans are very large. All we have to do is find them, and then figure out a way to get there, for that’s why we’re Human.
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Yes, of course there is. Planets that are marginally habitable, have liquid water on their surfaces, percent levels of oxygen in their atmospheres, and have macroscopic life as we know it are fairly common in the Milky Way galaxy.
Planets like Earth, however, that are teeming with millions of species are rare; there are only a handful of planets like this in the Milky Way. We should feel priviledged to live here, and should take better care of the Earth and all the species of living things on it. -
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Of course there is, and many of them. Life is abundant in the universe, but the scale of it all is still beyond our conception capabilities as a species. As time advances, we will advance to realize this scale and be able to deal with it in our time reference. We will discover we are not alone, and I’m not talking bacteria. We’re less than 100 years away, and there are people alive right now that will experience this development.
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