LIFE IN THE UNIVERSE

A. PERSPECTIVE

• There are billions of stars in each galaxy and about a billion galaxies within reach of our telescopes.
  The total number of stars in the observable universe is of order 1,000,000,000,000,000,000 (or 10¹⁸).

• Therefore:
  • If you believe Earth and humanity are special, uniquely fortunate or specially created (the "pre-Copernican" view), then we are ALONE in this unimaginably vast cosmos.

  • If you believe we are average (the "Copernican" view), then the universe TEEMS with billions of advanced lifeforms.

1. 1995: The discovery of planetary systems around nearby stars (see Guide 11). Apparently, many stars like the Sun have planets. Although we have only detected Jupiter-size planets so far, not Earth-like ones, most astronomers are confident that Earth-like planets will be found once the technology permits that.

2. 1996: Evidence suggesting the presence of fossil microorganisms on Mars (see Guide 17). This claim is highly controversial. But right or wrong, it has stimulated the development of vigorous research in the rapidly growing field of "Astrobiology." Independent evidence indicates the presence of large amounts of water on Mars at earlier times.

B. LIFE ON EARTH

The laws of physics and chemistry that govern the structure and functioning of organic systems are exactly the same as those that govern inorganic systems.

• Small set of chemical building blocks (large molecules constructed from abundant atoms like H,C,N,O, a few others)

• Key constituent is carbon, which offers 4 chemical bonds as the basis of complex molecules

• Nucleic acids (DNA, RNA): provide information storage & chemical control for molecular reproduction

C. EVOLUTION

E.g.: the fossil record is now fabulously rich (250,000 species)---vastly more so than in Darwin's day---and clearly shows the radical change of lifeforms on Earth through time.
E.g.: geological age-dating by radioactive isotopes is now highly accurate and graphically reveals the enormous stretch of time over which evolution on Earth has been working.
E.g.: the mechanisms by which inherited characteristics are passed from one generation to the next were mysterious in Darwin's time but are now thoroughly understood (genetics), as are the causes of the mutations that engender changes in species.
E.g.: DNA mapping has recently demonstrated astonishing chemical similarities between humans and other higher lifeforms. We share 98.8% of our genes with chimpanzees. Humans are part of a continuum of life on Earth, not a special class.
This is probably the most stringest test of evolutionary biology ever made, and it passed with flying colors. Darwin, Huxley, and the other leading biologists up to 50 years ago could not have imagined how precise or conclusive such chemical tests of the evolutionary principle could be.

E.g.: detailed measurements of the brightnesses & colors of stars in star clusters permit us to age-date their formation times. These range from about 10 million years for clusters in active star-forming regions to 13 billion years in the case of "globular clusters" like M80.
E.g.: by using powerful telescopes to study the Hubble Deep Field and other distant regions, astronomers can observe the universe as it was billions of years ago. No other field of science is able to make such direct observations of the distant past. Not only can we see the past, we also can determine how different the contents of the universe were at earlier times and trace how they change with "lookback time." There is no doubt that the universe has evolved.
E.g.: spacecraft observations of the cosmic background radiation from the Big Bang have recently determined the age of the universe to be 13.7 billion years.

They are not important among active scientists, who accept evolution as a foundation of modern science. Scientists involve themselves in these controversies only insofar as they try to protect the integrity of their disciplines and of science education from political intrusion.
In these debates, evolution is often mistakenly conflated with the question of the origin of life on Earth. Scientists do not presently have a good understanding of how (or even whether) life originated on Earth. That discussion is hypothetical. The evidence for evolution (that is, for a change over time) of lifeforms on Earth, however, is entirely independent of the question of life's origins. You do not have to know how where a sapling came from in order to know that a tree is growing.

D. ORIGIN OF LIFE ON EARTH?

• Probably in oceans; energy sources: solar radiation, volcanic vents, lightning....

• Lab simulation: classic Miller-Urey experiment ===> sugars, amino acids, DNA bases generated in a few days from pre-biotic ingredients. This demonstrated how easy it is to start a chemical synthesis sequence that can lead to organisms.

• Note that organic molecules thrive even in ostensibly hostile environments: meteorites, interstellar clouds

• For 3/4 of its history, life on Earth consisted only of very simple organisms, entirely unlike the profusion of advanced types seen today.

The notion of panspermia simply pushes the question of how life originated back one level. Panspermia has occasionally been very controversial, but at present there is no way to decide whether life originated on Earth itself or came here from elsewhere.
An obvious way for lifeforms to propagate in a given planetary system is through comets or meteoroids, as the "SNC" meteorites from Mars vividly demonstrate. Meteoroids could have spread Mars life to Earth or vice versa.
For more information on panspermia, click here.

E. LIFE ELSEWHERE IN OUR SOLAR SYSTEM

• Raw materials;
  
• Dense medium (preferably WATER, but other liquids/dense gases possible);
  
• Protected environment, maintained in appropriate temperature/pressure range;
  
• Energy source;
  
• Sufficient TIME (100 Myr-1 Byr?)

1. Venus: no! High temperature and corrosive atmosphere sufficient to sterilize surface of all Earth-like life.

2. Mars: plausible evidence for biosphere > 1 Byr ago with abundant water; SNC meteorites provide some evidence for microorganisms. Too cold and dry now for life?
   
3. Jupiter, Saturn atmospheres? Results from the Galileo probe (1995) were not promising but don't exclude.

4. Europa (J), with evidence for a liquid ocean lying beneath the visible crust of ice (1997+): plausible, and the most promising site for bio-exploration after Mars. Click on thumbnail at right for recent images of Europa. Enceladus (S) may be similar.

5. Titan's (S) hydrocarbon-rich atmosphere is a possible biosphere, though the temperatures are very low. The Cassini mission placed the Huygens lander safely on Titan's surface in January 2005. Data are still being analyzed to determine the viability of a biosphere.

6. Comet nuclei: ice, often with an apparent organic molecule coating; temperatures low; could act as "portable reservoirs" of organisms

F. INTELLIGENT LIFE ELSEWHERE

Warning

This is a fascinating but virtually 100% speculative subject. There is a paucity of facts, understanding, and imagination, and this leads to a wealth of conjecture and controversy. There is also the danger of carbon or planetary chauvinism
E.g.: Intelligent life need not be confined to planets. Why not an sentient interstellar gas cloud? This idea was explored in the famous science fiction novel The Black Cloud by astronomer Fred Hoyle.

The Drake Equation

The Green Bank (Drake) Equation was a first attempt to estimate the number of advanced technical civilizations in our Galaxy capable of undertaking interstellar communication. Here are the elements in the Drake estimate based on our current understanding:
1. There are 100 billion stars in our Galaxy

2. Assume 0.001% - 5% of the stars have Earth-like planets.
   Support? Recent detection of extra-solar planets. Even though these are all Jupiter-class, rather than Earth-size, most astronomers expect that the fraction of stars with Earth-like planets will prove to be of order 5% or larger. This is at the high end of the range considered plausible over the last 30 years.

3. Assume all develop life leading to advanced civilizations (Earth is average)
   "Earth is average" is the Copernican assumption, which has proved so successful in studies of the structure of our universe. However, we have very little intuition here, and some biologists would argue that the chances of developing technological species are small.

4. Assume the communication phase lasts 10,000 years.
   Note: we have only recently entered this phase. It has been 80 years since we developed commercial radio stations that could be detected in interplanetary space.

5. Combine all above. ===> 10 - 10,000 communicating civilizations in our Galaxy

6. ===> Distance to nearest: 10,000 - 1000 light years

The quantities entering the Drake calculation under items (3) and (4) are highly uncertain and controversial. But the point is that no one can presently exclude the possibility that a large number (10,000!) of advanced civilizations currently reside in our Galaxy.

Interstellar migration/exploration:

1000-10000 LY is a large distance but could be traversed with foreseeable technology on cosmically short time scales. Our own spacecraft (Pioneer, Voyager), launched only 20 years after we began a space program(!), have already left the Solar System.
Remember that 10 million years is a short time in the cosmic context. Even at propagation velocities far below the speed of light, civilizations could rapidly explore the Galaxy.
"Where are they?"
A famous question, now called the "Fermi Paradox" because it was first raised by physicist Enrico Fermi in the 1950's, is therefore: "Why aren't they here?"
If interstellar expansion is possible for thousands of Galactic species, there ought to be aliens cluttering up the Solar System. We don't see them, so is this argument wrong?

All answers to the question are sheer speculation, but I think the best is: "They are here, but we don't recognize them."

SETI = "Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence"

• Alternative to interstellar travel: EM communication, probably in the radio or optical EM bands

• Several passive listening, radio search programs are active. Most sophisticated are those operated by the SETI Institute, once a well-financed NASA program but killed by Congressional scepticism and now running on private contributions.

G. UFO'S, ALIEN ARTIFACTS

• Are UFO's evidence of alien activity on the Earth? See Guide 18 and links therein. There is no credible evidence that an intelligent species (other than our own) is involved in the UFO phenomenon. An overwhelmingly strong media influence governs the number & similarity of reports. Publicity can even provoke mild mass hysteria (e.g. alien abduction claims).

• Alien artifacts?
  • There have been a number of claims of physical evidence for an alien presence. One of the most interesting is the face on Mars, a partially-illuminated feature in the Cydonia region of Mars imaged (poorly) by the Viking spacecraft (1970's) and looking like a carved human head. This elicited speculation about civilizations on Mars, some of which is discussed here.

  • In April 1998, the Mars Global Surveyor was retargeted to image the same region at much higher resolution. Several good images were returned, showing the fully illuminated "face" to be an unambiguously natural feature. Yet better images have been more recently obtained by the Mars Express orbiter.

H. THE RECOGNITION CHASM

• The mean age difference between two Galactic species is likely to be 100's of millions of years.

• Under favorable conditions, successful advanced lifeforms may have continued evolution for a large fraction of that time. (Once they reach a certain level of development, they become immune to the more serious astronomical hazards for lifeforms, such as asteroid impacts and stellar evolution.)

• The age separation is much more important than the spatial separation
  ====> us : them ~ goldfish : us

• Since recognition and communication is possible only for cultures in close intellectual proximity,
  ====> Aliens would appear to be natural phenomena.

Seeds textbook, Chapter 26
Study Guide 23
Optional Reading:
Are We Alone? by J. Trefil & R. Rood (Clemons Lib: QB 54.R55)
The Biological Universe: The Twentieth Century Extraterrestrial Life Debate and the Limits of Science by Steven J. Dick (SciEngr Lib: QB 54.D47 1996).
Rare Earth: Why Complex Life is Uncommon in the Universe by Peter Douglas Ward & Donald Brownlee. (QB54.W336.2000).
Lonely Planets: The Natural Philosophy of Alien Life by David Grinspoon

Talk.Origins (a thorough web discussion of evolution vs. creationism)
Good summaries of development of life on Earth:

Origin & Unicellular Organisms
Multicellular Organisms
The Age of Animals
NASA's Astrobiology Program
The Astrobiology Web and its Exobiology page.
Encyclopedia of Astrobiology, Astronomy, & Spaceflight
Mars Global Surveyor Press Releases on "Face on Mars"
The SETI Institute
The Planetary Society SETI Page
"The Great Silence" (about the Fermi Paradox, by David Brin)
Barlowes Guide to Extraterrestrials/Great Aliens from Science Fiction Literature
Astronomy 342: Life Beyond the Earth (R. Rood)

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Last modified April 2008 by rwo

Text copyright © 1998-2008 Robert W. O'Connell. All rights reserved. Movie poster captured from the Internet Movie Data Base. These notes are intended for the private, noncommercial use of students enrolled in Astronomy 121 at the University of Virginia.