Looking for life in space
There are more planets out there than you can imagine, some similar to earth — habitable, possibly fit for colonisation, or too wild for us and probably already taken.
A six-year study that surveyed the skies for exoplanets concludes: “Stars are orbited by planets as a rule, rather than the exception.” So the Milky Way isn’t just full of stars, it is also full of planets.
We have known of planets existing outside our solar system for 17 years, and we have catalogued about 730 of them, with the number progressing geometrically over time.
Martin Dominik, astronomer at the University of St An-drews, UK, who took a lead role in the aforementioned study said, “The planets we have found since 1995 are amazingly diverse and very different from the nine planets we knew of. Knowing them provides a context of our own planet. We can’t understand our own planet without this context; without something to compare earth with we don’t know what is a life-supporting planet and what is not.”
All stars look about the same, differing in only size, temperature and stage. Planets on the other hand are more unique than similar to the others. New discoveries are piling up on a weekly basis; earlier this month 11 star systems with 26 planets were confirmed. The next big thing in space, however, is finding life. Most astronomers are sure there is life out there; momentum in astrobiology research is a clear indicator. The pursuit of finding life is somewhat separated from general planet hunting ventures but still dependent on it. Astrobiology deals in ‘life signatures’ that can be detected on candidate planets.
Dominik warns of what he calls ‘earth centric prejudice’. “The search for planets and any assessments can give us a list of the best candidates for where to look for life. If we consider a planet habitable it doesn’t tell us whether there is life out there or not... We will only know when we detect it directly.” The likes of Stephen Hawking have encouraged the search of habitable, life-friendly planets citing that mankind may not survive if colonising is not managed in another thousand years.
Claims of urgency and the frequency of discoveries are also urging authorities to consider investing large amounts of public money into the exploration of outer space. And thankfully there is a lot of room to cover.
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