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12. Life
| 12.32 |
How many places in the Milky Way galaxy would there be life?
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| From previous detailed arguments in the previous chapters, we see that planets are the only structures on which life can begin and sustain in basic form (excluding higher forms of life being able to travel and leave the safety of a planet.) | ||
| We also know that planets are a regular feature of stars. All stars have some number of planets orbiting them. In the Milky Way, for example we have already discussed that it is estimated there are at least 100 billion stars. | ||
| Before looking at the arguments for other life in the galaxy, let us look firstly at the arguments against there being other life forms in the galaxy. | ||
| 12.24.1 | Arguments against other life existing in the Milky Way Galaxy | |
| First, the existence of planets would by and large have to be a freak of nature. Stars in our Galaxy would have to be moving and rotating around the spiral arms of the galaxy largely as independent entities. | ||
| Second, where planets do exist, the likelihood of a planet having seas or oceans (frozen or otherwise) would have to be extremely rare. The fact that just in our solar system, Mars has polar ice caps, Europa is a frozen ocean moon, as is several other moons of the larger planets and that comets are most often made up of frozen ice would all be anomalies peculiar to our solar system. | ||
| Thirdly, the laws pertaining to the natural formation of molecules and compounds when ocean planets are in a semi-state of liquid and gaseous state would have to be an exclusive feature of our solar system, even though traces of molecules and compounds have been found in meteorite fragments allegedly "chipped off" from Mars and found on Earth. In the rest of the galaxy, where there may be ocean planets, these same laws would not apply. | ||
| Finally, the natural progression of certain stable molecules and compounds forming cellular structures (and therefore DNA) would have to be a peculiar set of laws pertaining only to Earth. | ||
| In short, Earth and our solar system would have to operate on a completely different set of laws compared to the rest of the Universe, while continuing to remain part of the Universe. | ||
| Whenever someone says "no life is possible", or even "no life is probable", they are (by default) supporting the absurd line of argument as discussed above. | ||
| 12.24.2 | The arguments for life in other parts of the Milky Way Galaxy | |
| Let us then look at the reasons for why there is life in the galaxy and how advanced or primitive in its evolution would it likely to be: | ||
| 1. The number of stars in the Milky Way Galaxy | ||
| We have stated in previous chapters and this chapter, that it is estimated our galaxy contains at least 200 billion stars. We also know from previous chapters that it is the statistical norm that these stars have planets revolving around them- it is part and parcel of the creation of stars in the first place. | ||
| 2. All stars are born from the process of collapsing nebulae | ||
| As discussed in the previous chapters, all stars (and therefore planets) are formed from the process of collapsing nebulae. The size of stars and the number of active stars is determined by the size and relative shape of the nebulae cloud prior to implosion. | ||
| What this means is that, there are always general patterns of formation that apply to all stars and their planets- size, shape, distance of orbit, relative mix of atomic structures for example. Not only would you expect a proportion of Yellow Dwarfs (Sun's the same as ours) to be created, but ocean planets (the same as Earth to be created). | ||
| 3. Oceans and seas are a natural feature of planets | ||
| In our solar system, let alone the solar systems nearby and across the over 100+ billion solar systems in our Milky Way, oceans and seas are a common features of planets. | ||
| They may be frozen as in the case of Europa and Titan around our dormant outer stars (Jupiter and Saturn), or liquid/gaseous ocean planets as Earth. | ||
| 4. The conditions for life should be better for younger and middle aged solar systems than for new-born and dying solar systems | ||
| All stars die at some point. Those solar systems closest to the centre of the galaxy should be devoid of life as their suns swell up into Giants, while at the edge of the galaxy, the new born stars and planets are still too "het" to sustain life. | ||
| 5. So what is the "magic number"? | ||
| If there is between 80 and 130 billion solar systems (most of two or more stars) in our galaxy, and say only around 10% of those at the right period of evolution to provide the right conditions for life, then that means a number of between 8 billion and 13 billion life bearing planets at least in our galaxy alone! | ||
| 12.24.3 | Is it possible to prove life exists in other parts of the galaxy? | |
| In previous chapters, we discussed the methods that can be applied to predicting planets- the first being the actual way in which solar systems are formed. We can look at the relative size of the Sun and therefore make reasonable predictions on the type and size of planet configuration that should exist to create the overall solar system. | ||
| 1. The mental block for science:- "needle in a haystack" | ||
| The first and most often discussed problem of finding life in other parts of the galaxy has been the needle in a haystack problem. Whereas stars exude radiation in the form or radio waves, radiation and sunlight, planets themselves do not. They are absorbers of these particles. | ||
| The second part of the problem is the relative size of planets- compared to structures such as stars, they are tiny by galactic comparison. | ||
| The third part of the problem is the massive distances even in our galaxy. Our nearest solar system for example is the Alpha Centuari Solar System of three stars. Its distance from our solar system to Alpha Centauri Solar System is approximately 4.3 light years or 40 693 900 000 000 kilometres. To give you an indication of this distance, it took the NASA probe to Mars (distance from the Earth of around 60 000 000 kilometres) approximately 1 year to get there. | ||
| Even if a NASA probe traveled at twice the same speed as the Mars probe to get to the Alpha Centauri solar system, it would take around 150,000 years to get there! | ||
| That definitely rules out manned space flights to the system and currently rules out unmanned space probes in the near future. | ||
| It has led scientists to rule out the question of any experiments to directly detect the existence of planets. For example, any radio waves sent out into space say in one hundred metre bandwidth's, may miss a planet in a nearby solar system by millions of kilometres without being affected in any way. | ||
| 2. Remembering pattern is the key | ||
| The wonder of the Universe that we have tried to show in the previous chapters is not knowing that a structure is 1.4 million kilometres in dimension, but its prime ratio compared to other structures and then their related ratios in terms of orbit and distances. | ||
| Every piece of matter from the smallest to the largest is about relationships. Relationships are about ratios. Once we establish the age, stability, structure and brightness of a star, we are also able to understand the relative nature of its birth and therefore the likely planets, their size and distribution, finally their orbits. If ratios did not exist, then structures like the Milky Way could not exist. | ||
| What we are saying is that by using what we can detect- the Sun, we can plot the likely pattern of planets. This then gives us two choices to confirm the existence then of those planets: (a) to monitor the disturbances at the predicted co-ordinates of the light from the Sun coming to our Earth (thus confirming the ratio of interference consistent with certain type planets), and/or (b) use our understanding of radio waves to actually send a signal on the predicted co-ordinates and position of a planet to measure our signals disturbance on its path. | ||
| 3. A further clue- the wonder of fuzzy refraction of ocean planets | ||
| A feature of all ocean covered planets is the incidence of torn surfaces in the form of plates. This occurs (as we will explain in later chapters) because of the combination of large asteroid impacts causing the condition of "nuclear winters" therefore freezing the oceans and then in turn the glacierisation effect tearing the surface of the planet. | ||
| To ocean moons (like Europa), this may appear like reasonably even hatch marks, compared to a well-worn planet like Earth with its torn and moving plates from hundreds of millions of years of freezing and thawing. | ||
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