It looks like you're using an Ad Blocker.
Please white-list or disable AboveTopSecret.com in your ad-blocking tool.
Thank you.
Some features of ATS will be disabled while you continue to use an ad-blocker.
originally posted by: captainmjp
Cool. I think the US government has already found/visited such planets but don't hold that against me. I am wondering what you, as an astrobiology major, think of the supposed discovery of plankton living on the outside of the ISS.
There is a big thread on it here at ATS. I am new on ATS so forgive me if this question is an inappropriate one to ask on your thread. I just thought with your background your opinion on the matter would hold more weight than most. Thanks
originally posted by: Psynic
originally posted by: JadeStar
originally posted by: Psynic
WTF is an "alien" planet?
Exoplanets aka planets around other stars beyond our solar system.
So, Mars for instance, isn't an "Alien" planet.
Whew, that's a relief!
originally posted by: Soylent Green Is People
I found the discussion on the importance on detecting free oxygen on an exoplanet to be very interesting. Should we use the presence of oxygen (possibly detectable using spectrography and the next generation of telescopes) as a major dtermining factor for searching for life?
On one hand, life could exist without oxygen -- in fact the ancient Earth had non-oxygen life (anaerobic life), and an alien looking at earth 3.5 to 4 billion years ago would not find oxygen, but life would still be here. The Earth did not really get it's abundance of oxygen until green plants proliferated. So a planet without oxygen could still have life.
BUT, because there are some non-biological sources for oxygen (albeit it is rare), finding free oxygen is NOT necessarily a "slam dunk" for life.
All in all, and interesting discussion.
originally posted by: Soylent Green Is People
At the end, they were talking about searching for life by searching for chemical dis-equilibriums in the atmosphere of exoplanets.
That's interesting even within our own solar system. I remember reading something by NASA's David Grinspoon (one of the panelists in the discussion that this tread is about) about 10 years ago where he was discussing chemical imbalances in the clouds of Venus that could (but not necessarily) indicate the presence of life processes in those clouds.
Another intriguing chemical imbalance that may point to life is occurring on Titan. Geologists and other planetary scientists who are attempting to understand the chemistry of the geological systems on Titan are finding that there is less hydrogen and acetylene than they expect should be there.
The question then arises (asked by NASA's Chris McKay in the article below), "Is something alive on Titan 'eating' the hydrogen and acetylene?". It's premature to say that "dis-equilibrium = life", because there may be non-biological reasons for the dis-equilibrium, or maybe our measurements are lacking....
...However, it is an intriguing thought, and these dis-equilibriums may be a good method for looking for prime candidates among exoplanets for life-bearing planets.