almightyseancore Posted February 14, 2012 Share Posted February 14, 2012 awwwwwwww shit! http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/kepler/news/kepscicon-briefing.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcm1610 Posted February 14, 2012 Share Posted February 14, 2012 I'm sure there's a scientific explanation (probably even an obvious one), I just don't know it, but how are we sure all life needs water and that we aren't an anomaly here by needing it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fattacus Posted February 14, 2012 Share Posted February 14, 2012 Yikes 600 light years away. Better fire up the stargate. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rtw88 Posted February 14, 2012 Share Posted February 14, 2012 I'm sure there's a scientific explanation (probably even an obvious one), I just don't know it, but how are we sure all life needs water and that we aren't an anomaly here by needing it? As far as I understand, we don't. I could be way off base here, but I believe it's just that there would need to be some liquid for life to evolve, and water is thought to be pretty abundant. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
riddle350 Posted February 14, 2012 Share Posted February 14, 2012 I'm sure there's a scientific explanation (probably even an obvious one), I just don't know it, but how are we sure all life needs water and that we aren't an anomaly here by needing it? As far as I understand, we don't. I could be way off base here, but I believe it's just that there would need to be some liquid for life to evolve, and water is thought to be pretty abundant. My understanding is that we use the "Earth" model because it's would have the highest possibility of having life "as we know it" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcm1610 Posted February 14, 2012 Share Posted February 14, 2012 I guess that makes sense, but when I imagine a wide universe with infinite possibilities for evolution, I would imagine the next flukey life-giving planet would have nothing similar to us. The chance that we ended up this way is so remote that whatever else we find will be incredibly different. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smailtronic Posted February 14, 2012 Share Posted February 14, 2012 As far as I understand, we don't. I could be way off base here, but I believe it's just that there would need to be some liquid for life to evolve, and water is thought to be pretty abundant. My understanding is that we use the "Earth" model because it's would have the highest possibility of having life "as we know it" This. It's all about "life as we know it". We have a software tool for our planetarium that is basically a 3d model of the known universe. So during shows, I'll fly groups of kids out to some of these exoplanetary systems. They're a blast. Most of them are just single star/single planet systems, but there are some neat ones with binary stars, some where the planets are super close to their star (several known planets have orbits that are >7 days), some with multiple planets, all sorts of nerdy fun. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
almightyseancore Posted February 15, 2012 Author Share Posted February 15, 2012 we KNOW that life forms in water. there is a moon orbiting jupiter named "europa" which is assumed to be covered in ice, with a vast ocean, kept warm by the core of the moon, deep beneath the ice. imagine all the strange creatures that could live in this water. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
unwound Posted February 15, 2012 Share Posted February 15, 2012 we KNOW that life forms in water.there is a moon orbiting jupiter named "europa" which is assumed to be covered in ice, with a vast ocean, kept warm by the core of the moon, deep beneath the ice. imagine all the strange creatures that could live in this water. Which is why when the Russians finally breached lake Vostok it was so monumental. I can't even fathom the organisms that have been trapped in that lake...it's kind of naive but I'm half-hoping there's some sort of prehistoric dinosaur down there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
almightyseancore Posted February 15, 2012 Author Share Posted February 15, 2012 we KNOW that life forms in water.there is a moon orbiting jupiter named "europa" which is assumed to be covered in ice, with a vast ocean, kept warm by the core of the moon, deep beneath the ice. imagine all the strange creatures that could live in this water. Which is why when the Russians finally breached lake Vostok it was so monumental. I can't even fathom the organisms that have been trapped in that lake...it's kind of naive but I'm half-hoping there's some sort of prehistoric dinosaur down there. i imagined that too when i heard they were drilling. finally breaking thru the ice and a giant mouth coming out and consuming the whole team in one gulp. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcm1610 Posted February 15, 2012 Share Posted February 15, 2012 We know life forms in water, but do we know that life ONLY forms in water? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
almightyseancore Posted February 15, 2012 Author Share Posted February 15, 2012 We know life forms in water, but do we know that life ONLY forms in water? steven hawking has theory that there could be planets with oceans of liquid nitrogen, which could theoretically sustain life if life were to form there and evolve to live in such an environment. i guess that didn't really answer your question, but i don't think we know anything about the way life can form on other planets. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ryanmccauley38 Posted February 15, 2012 Share Posted February 15, 2012 Don't forget about Enceladus of Saturn. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smailtronic Posted February 15, 2012 Share Posted February 15, 2012 And Titan. No liquid water, but hydrocarbons in its atmosphere and giant lakes of liquid methane. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
riddle350 Posted February 15, 2012 Share Posted February 15, 2012 I personally believe that there is potential for life to form on a vast variety of planets and I'm always excited about space exploration and any new knowledge that it can bring. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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