Laura Cipiti

Fall 2010

Cosmology CURR

“The surest sign that intelligent life exists elsewhere in the universe is that it has never tried to contact us.” Bill Watterson - creator of Calvin and Hobbes

The ancient Greeks were the first Western thinkers to consider formally the possibility of life in the universe outside of earth.

In the 16th century, the Copernican model (earth was not the center of creation) opened the door to all sorts of extraterrestrial thoughts.

1930 discovery of Pluto and further attention of the possibility that life is on Mars.

1959 Two young phycists at Cornell University authored a 2-page article entitled “Searching for Interstellar Communications”. The modern search then began.

1960 Scientists began a search to hear signals from intelligent life.

1975 Viking mission to look for life on Mars. 1985 SETI was founded. 1995 Astronomers have discovered the first

exo-planet outside of our solar system. 2002 Scientists find that Europa may have an

icy surface 2010 Scientists confirmed ice on Mars

Violent events with very short time-scales, supernova explosions to bring chemical elements to life from stars, collisions between little planets crashing together to make bigger planets, and a quiet period to slowly evolve life.

Our moon stabilizes the earth’s axis and helps control our climate.

The location of earth in our solar system prevents over exposure from our sun (Habitable zone).

Most stars in the universe are smaller than our sun, which would require planets to orbit closer to their sun to obtain necessary heat.

Jupiter protects us from being hit by many things such as comets and asteroids.

Having one sun provides a stable orbit. Our distance from the sun gives us an

atmosphere and liquid water, which can be maintained.

Liquid water seems to be an essential requirement for life.

Scientists can’t seem to agree Extremophiles- It has been proven that life does NOT need water to exist

Benton Clark (astrobiologist with University of Colorado) says, “Our criteria for life may be too specific.” We may only know what it is when we see it.

Life Beyond Earth video (10 mins)

Europa (Jupiter) Titian(Saturn) Ganymede (Jupiter) Enceladus (Saturn) Exo-solar planets Mars

NASA (2 mins.) Hubble, Kepler, multiple telescopes, plus future missions

SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) Frank Drake (3 mins.)

European Space Agency French CoRoT mission and Gaia

Canadian Space Agency MOST mission

Other

NASA has created an Planetary Protection branch.

Their mission is to prevent biological cross-contamination that could result from NASA’s solar system exploration missions.

So we won’t “discover” life we brought with us.

October 5 - At Keck Observatory in Hawaii they discovered a new planet circling Gliese 581 star. It is within the habitable zone. This star has now 6 planets circling around it. This is the first discovery of a potential Earthlike world.

October 28 - NASA study suggests 1 out of every 4 stars may host Earth size planets.

Nov. 11 James Webb Space Telescope will be delayed at least another year.

Nov. 13 Chemists uncover a new chemical reaction that could allow scientists to gain information from ancient rocks to find out what the atmosphere of Mars was like hundreds of millions years ago.

Recent NewsRecent News

Alien Earths

Seti at home Nasa’s Planet Quest

Hamilton, C. (2001, November). Life beyond our solar system. Retrieved from http://sci2.esa.int/specialevents/lifeinuniverse/life.html

Finnes, E. (2008, August). Extremophiles [Web log message]. Retrieved from http://ourundiscovereduniverse.com/blog/?p=88

Woodmansee, Laura. (2001). If life exists on mars, our robotic probe may have brought it there. Space Daily, Retrieved from http://www.spacedaily.com/news/life-01zg1.html

Mullen, L. (2002). Defining life. Astrobiology Magazine, Retrieved from http://www.ufoevidence.org/documents/doc1944.htm

Balthaser, D. (2000, July). Pros and cons of life existing elsewhere. Extraterrestrial contact, 1472, Retrieved from http://www.ufoevidence.org/documents/doc1472.htm

Globalimmersion, C. (Producer). (2009). Are we alone. [Web]. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fSFPi75Ps_U

Freethinker, F. (Producer). (2009). Life beyond earth. [Web]. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W7ivTdcHYvI&feature=related

Zimmer, H. (Producer). (2009). Alien life on titan or europa. [Web]. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lI_TbLAyGfs&NR=1&feature=fvwp

Ransford, M. (2008, June). The search for extraterrestrial life: a brief history. Popular Science, Retrieved from http://www.popsci.com/military-aviation-space/article/2008-06/et-phone-earth

Little, D. (1999, January). The search for life in the universe. Retrieved from http://www.setileague.org/articles/little.htm

Degrasse, N. (2002, June). The search for life in the universe. Retrieved from http://www.astrobio.net/index.php?option=com_retrospection&task=detail&id=166

Sources continued…

Little, D. (1999, January). The search for life in the universe. Retrieved from http://www.setileague.org/articles/little.htm

Degrasse, N. (2002, June). The search for life in the universe. Retrieved from http://www.astrobio.net/index.php?option=com_retrospection&task=detail&id=166

Lawler, A. (2009). Is jupiter's bizarre moon our best hope of finding extraterrestrial life?. Discover Magazine, Retrieved from http://discovermagazine.com/2009/sep/28-is-this-bizarre-moon-our-bestextraterrestrial-life/article_view?searchterm=europa%20%20%20life&b_start:int=1

Honig, M. (2010, February). The oceans of enceladus. Retrieved from http://www.tgdaily.com/space-features/48430-the-oceans-of-enceladus=17

Woollacott, E. (2010, February). Ingredients for life present on saturn's moon. Retrieved from http://www.tgdaily.com/ocean/48349-ingredients-for-life-present-on-saturns-moon=18902