Tonight’s Agenda. Questions ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
Transcript of Tonight’s Agenda. Questions ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
Tonight’s Agenda
Questions
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Randomness and Mutation
What do you think scientists expect to find
through SETI and SETI@home?
Why do you think NASA chose to eliminate funding
for SETI in the 1990s?
Do you believe SETI and SETI@home are worthwhile
projects? Why?
What outcome(s) do you think will result from SETI
and SETI@home?
Fishes.southernfriedscience.com
Astrobiology -
• Examining life at its extremes on earth (hydrothermal vents). • Where else within our solar system might we find life adapted to
extreme conditions like the vents?
Europa (Jupiter’s 4th Moon)
Jupiter’s 4 Galilean moons
Jupiter’s 4th Moon Europa - A hidden Ocean???
Ice Covered Surface - Is the ice moving??
Two Hypotheses
Warm Convecting Ice
Liquid Ocean Under Ice
Could be ~ 100km deepGeothermal activity
High tidal range due to Jupiter~110 feet causes ice shells to flex every 3.5 days.
Europa - Ocean ExplorerEuropa - Orbiter
Is there life on other planets? What do you think?
“The Drake Equation”
N = R* x fp x ne X fl x fi x fc x L
N = the number of civilizations in our galaxy in which communication might be possible
R* = the average rate of star formation per year in our galaxy (7/year)
fp = the fraction of those stars that have planets (0.5)
ne = the average number of planets that can support life per star that has planets (0.005)
fℓ = the fraction of the above that actually go on to develop life at some point (0.33)
fi = the fraction of the above that actually go on to develop intelligent life (0.01)
fc = the fraction of civilizations that develop a technology that releases detectable signs of their existence into space (0.01)
L = the length of time such civilizations release detectable signals into space. (10000 years)
N= 0.006
Questions
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