Science of the Physical Universe 30: Life as a Planetary Phenomenon

Formerly … Science Core A-54:

Life as a Planetary Phenomenon

Instructor: Dimitar Sasselov

Instructor: Dimitar Sasselov Teaching Fellows: Wade Henning (Head TF), Darin Ragozzine,

Li Zeng, Jessica Haurin, Sarah Rugheimer, Maggie McLean

& others

Science of the Physical Universe 30: Life as a Planetary Phenomenon

Lecture 1: Life as a Planetary Phenomenon (Introduction)

1. Course structure2. Grading3. Organizational matters

4. Introduction to the course

Course Structure: 5 themes

1. The Origin and Evolution of Planets 2. The Origin and Evolution of Life 3. Exploring the Solar System for Life

4. Searching for Life beyond the Solar System

5. Extraterrestrial Intelligence

January 25, 2008Researchers Take Step Toward Synthetic Life

By ANDREW POLLACKTaking a significant step toward the creation of synthetic forms of life, researchers reported Thursday that they had manufactured the entire genome of a bacterium by stitching together its chemical components.

Published online at www.edge.orgJan. 2008

May 2010

J.C.VenterInstitute:

JCVI-syn1.0

Water flows on Mars since 2001 ?!

Lakes and channels on Titan!

New Lines of Inquiry

• Twenty years ago: Life is distinct from physical planet Earth• Now: Life is an integral part of the Earth

• Major discoveries– Diversity of microbial life on Earth– Role of life in determining atmosphere composition

and history– Role of life in regulating climate– Planetary missions, especially Mars– Extrasolar Planets

• Geobiology: the study of how organisms and environments influence each other through time.

• Astrobiology = Geobiology + Exploration

• Our inquiry follows the paths of exploration: – direct (our solar system)– remote sensing (nearby solar systems)

– SETI (the rest of the universe)

Life is a planetary phenomenon

Mars from Earth, ca. 1900

Mars from Martian Orbit: Mariner 4 1965

Closer Orbit: Viking 1977

Hi-Rise camera looks at Mars, October 2006

The Martian Surface: MER 2004

Comparison to Earth

MER 2004: The highest resolution

Kepler: the camera - CCDs in the focal plane

Camera: 42 CCDs

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The discovery of Kepler’s first rocky planet(announced Jan. 9, 2011)

What Kepler-10b might look like - an artist’s view

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A map of an extrasolar planet

Knutson, Charbonneau et al. (2007)

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