Good Prospects for Extraterrestrial Life? Rocky Planets 'Are Commonplace' in Our Galaxy

ScienceDaily (Apr. 14, 2010) — An international team of astronomers have discovered compelling evidence that rocky planets are commonplace in our Galaxy.

Leicester University scientist and lead researcher Dr Jay Farihi surveyed white dwarfs, the compact remnants of stars that were once like our Sun, and found that many show signs of contamination by heavier elements and possibly even water, improving the prospects for extraterrestrial life.

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Excitingly, it appears a significant fraction of these stars are polluted with material that contained water, with important implications for the frequency of habitable planets around other stars.


If internal water is present in a substantial fraction of asteroids around other stars, like those that contaminated the white dwarfs, it is conceivable that at least simple life may be common throughout the Galaxy. Dr Farihi comments: "In our own Solar System with at least one watery, habitable planet, the asteroid belt -- the leftover building blocks of the terrestrial planets -- is several percent water by mass.

From our study of white dwarfs, it appears there are basic similarities found among asteroid-like objects around other stars; hence it is likely a fraction of these white dwarfs once harbored watery planets, and possibly life."

www.sciencedaily.com...

This was presented yesterday in Glasgow at an RAS National Astronomy Meeting.

Too bad way too many people will still choose to believe it is not even possible for life to exist elsewhere. More and more evidence all the time comes forward, yet people still say it can't exist.

Yes, many cannot even see further than their own belief systems, and for a good reason: It would shake the foundation of their unconscious egoic mind. There are millions of civilizations out there, but for most, it's very hard to look at this with an objective attitude. To "think" we're alone in the universe is very weird, but normal for many. For some, undeniable scientific proof is required in order for them to satisfy their quest for truth.
There is, according to scientific data, over 100 billion galaxies in this universe. Do the math... Probabilities are not necessary in my opinion.

This is just another example of how self-centered we as humans are. And how short sighted our ways of thinking have become.

Look, you don't need a rocky planet to spawn life.

There could be commonplace lifeforms among the gas giant types of planets, we just have no way of knowing.

Water is not necessary for life, as some life forms could absorb other nutrients instead for their sustenance.

We could have little ice critters on Pluto, gas bag creatures on Jupiter, and a high temperature organism living on Venus.

These are all totally possible.

You don't need rocky planets or water for life. Bottom line.

All you need is a Planet. That is about it.