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Welcome
History:
What is Astrobiology?
The study of the origin evolution distribution and future
life in the universe. This field involves the search for
habitable environments in our solar system and planets
outside our solar system. It also involves the search for
evidence of life on mars other bodies in our solar system,
and outside of our solar system. In our search we will be
focusing on life in our galaxy.
Observing and researching astrobiology began in 1958. This is
when the term
Astrobiology was first invented. During this period most of the
ideas of
astrobiology were discovered. These ideas include comets
bringing water and
possibly life to earth from space, and nucleic acid was the
first molecule to
reproduce into life. These ideas lead to even bigger ideas of
life outside of our
planet Earth. For many years more evidence leading to life on
other planets have
been found. Today, there are so many mysteries yet to be solved,
but little by little,
observing and researching have given us more knowledge about
what is out there
in our galaxy.
Astrobiology- Life In
Our Galaxy
http://perma//BLPageReference/4F9E53F4-AB5F-41DD-B17F-A8F34E43B1AC
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Summary:
Every kid out there wants to think that aliens might exist
somewhere. Thoselittle green men with the big eyes, antennas, and
flying saucers comes into
mind. Or maybe you think about mars. No matter the perception of
this topic,
alien life in our solar system and universe is a legitimate
topic called
Astrobiology. Astrobiology is the study of the origin evolution
distribution and
future life in the universe. This field involves the search for
habitableenvironments in our solar system and planets outside our
solar system. It also
involves the search for evidence of life on mars other bodies in
our solar
system, and outside of our solar system.
The idea of life in our solar system has changed dramatically
sense 1976
when scientists thought the only possible way of life in our
solar system was on
mars, or the only place where there was the resources of oxygen
and water
thought to be necessary for life. Viking I landed on Mars that
year, and all it
retrieved was a hand full of red dirt, however, and Mars chances
of holding
life was bleak. Now scientists have discovered that it is
possible to have life on
other planets in our solar system. This is due to the discovery
of bacteria being
able to service in scarce habitats as well as seeing evidence of
water on many of
the planets. These are called extremophiles.
The discovery of these hardy creatures, such as crabs and worms
living ingeothermal vents in the ocean, proves that life may exist
in planets that were
previously considered impossible to hold any life. These
organisms are able to
survive with little or no surface sunlight, no photosynthesis,
and very little
oxygen. Some organisms are living off the radioactive decay of
elements in
their environment. Therefore, habitable planets do not have to
be like Earth,
as certain creature sand bacteria can survive in extreme
conditions.
There was a previous constriction of what is called habitable
zones that
planets containing possible life would have to exist. You can
move the Earth
inward toward the sun by a couple of percent, or move it outward
by at most
about 30 percent before the climate runs into a serious problem,
said Greg
Laughlin at the University of California . This is one
perception of the
habitable zone, and from this perspective, a planet existing in
this area in our
solar system is very unlikely. But because of the discovery of
the extremophile
bacteria, scientists now know that bacteria could live in places
outside of this
zone. In fact, the idea of the habitable zone itself is
expanding right along with
the expanding understanding and knowledge of extreme life in
this universe.
Even when you put these extreme lives aside, there are a couple
planets and
moon under consideration for life right now. The first of these
in Jupiters
moon Europa, which is now considered on the list of planets that
may contain
water, or in other words, the things necessary for life. The
Cassini spacecraft
saw spouts of water from the surface of Saturns moon, Enceladus,
which
suggests that there is an entire ocean of warm water under its
rough, frozen
surface, which could contain a number of organisms.
The solar system we are in is located in the Milky Way galaxy,
only one of
millions of solar systems in this one galaxy. This universe,
perhaps, is made up
of billions of galaxies. The Milky Way alone contains about 200
billion stars,
which means about 100 billion Earth-like planets in just this
galaxy. This wasa promising aspect of discovery before, and now as
the habitable zone expands
that possibility for life grows even greater. Also, at least 361
intelligent
civilizations have emerged in the Milky Way since its creation,
and as many as
38,000 may have formed. So, it turns out, that notion of the
little green men
may not be ridiculous at all. Well, maybe not little or green,
but there is
definitely life out there somewhere.
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Bibliography:
>"Galaxy May Be Full of 'Earths,' Alien Life." CNN
Technology. CNN. Web. 2009. .
This site has an article about what astrobiology is and facts
about what the discoveries of studying
origin evolution distribution are.
McKinney, Luke. "Signs of Life in the Milky Way:
Glycolaldehyde." Http://www.dailygalaxy.com/. 1Dec. 2008. Web. 31
Mar. 2010. .
This article was mostly about trying to find life outside
instead of just on mars. The recentresults that there might be
other life out there.
"About Astrobiology." NASA Astrobiology. Ed. Linda Billings.
NASA, 29 Mar. 2010. Web. 30Mar. 2010. .
This source is effective, informative, and very useful overall.
The entire site is based on
only astrobiology, and is from NASA, a very reliable
organization that focuses mostly onspace advancements. This site
contains current articles and news related to the topic, aswell as
sufficient background information and facts as well. It also
explains some missionslaunched by NASA relating to this topic and
the search for outside life, and pictures tohelp the understanding
of the topic and information given. Overall this site is
veryinformative, and has plenty of useful as well as reliable
information.
Wikipedia Online Encyclopedia. A Wikimedia Project, 2010. Web.
.
Other Urls For pictures:
http://www.macalester.edu/astronomy/research/sonya/history.html
http://coolcosmos.ipac.caltech.edu/cosmic_kids/AskKids/images/astrobio.jpg
http://www.foxnews.com/images/279190/0_61_earth_like_planet.jpg
http://astrobiology.nasa.gov/roadmap/
www.nasa.gov
http://www.shatters.net/celestia/images/gallery/europa-jupiter.jpg
http://nai.arc.nasa.gov/seminars/134_Bandfield/mars.jpg
