Questions tagged [life]
Questions regarding life in the universe, especially the possibility of life outside our planet, or the influence of astronomical forces on life on Earth.
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Is life (as we know it) even possible around M-class stars?
My Question is about the fascination in looking for life on M class or Red Dwarf stars.
We all know that Most stars (70%) are M Class, so looking at those stars is going to be important. The "...
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Why are total solar eclipses possible (probability wise) [duplicate]
Total solar eclipses are possible because the Moon is about 400 times smaller than the Sun and also 400 times closer than it is. In any planetary system, the odds of this should be near zero. Is there ...
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If E.T. alien civilizations exist, won't those exoplanets be almost the age and rate of progress as ours? [closed]
This question is posed also as a mini theory, although I am really asking if someone knows how some parts of our universe would be far-more advanced if "everything" started at the same time (...
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Conditions on Earth when Mars was warmer, wetter & had a thicker atmosphere
To the question, What part of a star's habitable zone has the best chance of developing life?, I made the following comment:
It's always intrigued me as to why some people have thought that life in ...
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Effects of other planets on life on Earth
I've heard this often in the media, that the gas planet Jupiter has a significant effect upon life on Earth - by, the say, drawing asteroids & comets to itself, many planet-killer are destroyed as ...
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Is it possible to estimate the body-shape of intelligent life just by taking into account the physical conditions of a planet? [closed]
I wonder if one can estimate the body-shape of intelligent life (comparable to humans) living on land just by taking into account the physical conditions of the planet. With intelligent life (...
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Can it be possible to get ice from other moons?
Could it be possible to send out something similar to a probe to one of the moons in the solar system that most likely have water under the cover of the ice and then bring back tests to Earth to see ...
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How did the Milky Way quasar not disrupt terrestrial life?
According to most sources of information I have found (A Quora Link and books), when galaxies become quasars, they destroy all life in their host galaxy, as they output so much radiation that they can ...
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M Dwarf radiation and habitability at the terminator of a tidally-locked planet?
I know that M Dwarf stars emit intense solar flares, which is thought to pose a potential problem for the emergence of life on planets that orbit them. But I was wondering if the life that might exist ...
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Have there been any searches for extraterrestrial life which doesn't require water, oxygen and carbon?
This is question is similar to this, but that question has already been voted to be closed. I will add though that I joined this website today, so I am still learning how to write a good question here....
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Life forms on planets not requiring water and oxygen as basic building blocks [closed]
When scientists explore other planets such as Mars, they look for life derived from water and oxygen (correct me if I am wrong) with a purpose to see whether that planet is habitable for humans or not....
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Are the human-made devices on Mars searching for existing life?
According to the answers to my other question - Most powerful microscope on Mars?
The microscopes on Mars do not search for life. SHERLOC (Scanning Habitable Environments with Raman & Luminescence ...
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What would be the noticeable effects (if any) if the Earth's orbit entered a chaotic trajectory?
To set the stage, let's put some more specific assumptions:
I am specifically thinking of a binary-single type interaction where the Earth is the intruder on a binary system of two bodies of a ...
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Calculating "maximum" distance to an alien civilization
I'm planning on making a video related to Fermi Paradox, and I've used Omni Calculator's Alien Civilization calculator as a reference. I noticed they have a field that calculates the "maximum&...
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Most powerful microscope on Mars?
From all the missions sent to the surface of Mars, do any of them have a microscope? If yes, then which one has the most powerful microscope? Is it capable of detecting microbes?
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Could life develop in a galaxy with a quasar at its centre?
Quasars are a type of Active Galactic Nucleus that inhabit the centres of some galaxies. They are among the most energetic objects known in the universe, emitting up to a thousand times the energy ...
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Detection of the existence of any extraterrestrial life
We can't see things in "real-time" but we see the "past versions" of the things because it takes time for the light from that object to travel to us. So looking far away means ...
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Could the timing of the oxygen spike on Mars be used to determine if photosynthesis is responsible?
I am wondering if the timing of the oxygen spike on Mars could be used to determine if photosynthesis is the source (which would be another indication of life on Mars), or if it is purely heat related?...
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Has SETI searched the solar system for life?
I know SETI is searching the stars for radio signals emitted by advanced alien civilizations, but has SETI searched inside our solar system - particularly moons, planets, and Lagrange points? I would ...
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Is life possible on other celestial objects (apart from planets) even theoretically? [closed]
For example, asteroids, comets, stars, heliosphere etc?
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Would Atlas Pro's prediction about the color of plant in Kepler-186F work as a biosignature to search for life?
The Atlas Pro video that prompted this question is this.
Tl;dr: it is argued that due to the different spectrum of radiation emitted by Kepler-186 and what is known about the evolution of ...
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What is the probability of life having developed or going to develop in our solar system another time?
I'm sorry I am not quite sure this question satisfies this point:
Questions that are purely hypothetical, for example a question such as 'Could a black hole destroy the universe' or 'What if our ...
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Could rogue planets harbor life?
On July 21 at 10 am, Seti Talks will be discussing the topic of "Could Rogue Planets Harbor Life". Supposedly there are 50 billion such planets in the Milky Way. I would think that the ...
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How big can a planet get, with respect to its star for it to sustain life? [closed]
Earth is 108 times smaller than the sun in terms of its diameter while Jupiter is 10 times.
Assuming Jupiter was located such that it could sustain life, theoretically how big a planet can get with ...
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Serious alternate form of the Drake Equation, or graffiti?
Where I live it is very common to see jackets and T-shirts with familiar yet casually garbled or modified content (example)
I recently spotted what looked a lot like the Drake equation on the back of ...
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Is there any "scale" for measuring salinity of extraterrestrial water?
Continuation of Is the water underneath Europa's ice cap potable?
The referenced question discussed if water from Europa's ice caps is potable or not and from the answers, it was gathered that ...
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For colonization purposes, what is so good about Titan? [closed]
I have read that Titan is the best candidate for humans to colonize in our Solar System.
However it has no water, it's atmosphere is not breathable and it is -290° F on the surface. It doesn't sound ...
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Is extra-planetary phosphine actually a new discovery?
For all the buzz on Venus’s phosphine, I’m curious as to what sets it apart from the findings of phosphine on Jupiter, Titan, etc. There are several papers on NASA.gov dating to 1979 and more recent ...
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Why is the SETI survey limited to only Red Dwarf Stars?
I was going through the official SETI website, when I came across this article on the same website which said :
Today, the SETI Institute uses a specially designed instrument for its SETI efforts – ...
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What other hints of possible life in Venusian atmosphere have we dismissed?
Now that phosphine has probably been discovered in relatively large quantities in the Venusian atmosphere, I heard that there have been other unexplained phenomena (i.e. dark patches) seen. Does ...
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Is there a useful measure of how "life-dominated" a planet is?
If life exists on Mars or Venus, then in contrast to life on Earth, it must be "just scraping by". I can imagine a few ways to quantify this:
Life on Mars or Venus is hard to detect -- any ...
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Could life forms have travelled between the Earth and Mars on meteoroids?
Mars meteorites have been found on Earth, and there likely are Earth meteorites that have crashed on Mars.
If you take any random piece of rock from the surface of Earth, the odds are there will be ...
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On Venus, what substances are likely to be found that are liquid in the temperatures and pressures and are there pools of the stuff?
It's clear that there is no water on Venus. But with temperatures hot enough to boil lead, well, couldn't there be pools of lead on the surface? Or pools of other things, like sulfur? Is there any ...
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The Solar System formation
I've recently watched one conversation (I won't post a link since the conversation is not in english) involving a physicist (at least he claims so), who spoke about probabilistic estimates of the ...
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Other than liquid water what factors could make way for life to be on Europa?
I know that Europa has liquid water, but I just don't know if there is anything else on it that could give way for life.
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Consequences of strong wind on an alien Planet on the possibility of life
I was surprised to learn recently that Neptune has winds of 1500 miles an hour.
My question is whether life could ever evolve on such a Planet that has such powerful winds? Not necessarily on ...
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Would it be possible for life found on moon of rogue planet
I have heard that there are at least three Basic requirement for life exist in the universe, they are:
Source of Energy
Complex chemistry (including solvent/medium for chemical reaction)
Protection ...
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Will the conditions that allow life to evolve still be around in a trillion years?
Some billions of years ago, systems like the Earth couldn't emerge and therefore life couldn't arise, because not enough of the heavy elements had formed yet.
Assuming there'll neither be a big ...
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Proxima as Supernova
Follow this question. If a star at the same distance from us as, say, Proxima Centauri had exploded as a Supernova 4 years ago (I know, it can't explode as supernova, let's say it can)...
How bright ...
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Plant on large Asteroid?
I'm just curious if it is possible for a plant to survive on a large asteroid. Some say no, some say it depends.
With the scenario of an asteroid at about 1 AU from the Sun, receiving a similar ...
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Could the solar system survive in a void?
If the solar system were suddenly placed in the middle of a large void... would everything still function as normal?
Would we even notice any difference here on Earth apart from the night sky?
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Could an Earth-like magnetic field protect life at exoplanet Proxima Centauri b?
I took a look at Wikipedia's page for Proxima Centauri b, the exoplanet that orbits Proxima Centauri, where it is said it is expected to receive 2000 times of stellar wind pressures than on Earth.
It ...
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Could Mars have oil?
What events could have to happen to Mars (which is thought to once look like Earth) that may have depleted the atmosphere and erase all proof of life ever existing at least on the surface?
I know an ...
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Could some bacteria theoretically evolve to survive in space?
There is no edge to the atmosphere, and therefor I expect there would be a gradual reduction of concentrations of bacteria as we ascend into space. Logically anaerobic bacteria should be able to ...
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Why haven't detected life in the universe?
It would seem that if life were relatively common in the universe that there would be a cacophony of noise somewhere in the electromagnetic spectrum. Is life so rare and distant that the waves haven't ...
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How strong are the stellar flares on YZ Ceti?
Doing research for a game and trying to understand the implications of the stellar flares from YZ Ceti. In short (ignoring the planets for now), if people were to build large space stations of various ...
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Is there enough light to grow plants in the ocean of Europa?
What is the underwater temperature of Europa?
I know Jupiter emits infrared light but does it emit any light able to support plant life of any type on near by Moons? Can under water volcanic activity ...
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What is the underwater temperature of Europa?
If Europa has an oxygen atmosphere with a water mantle, is it possible that there could be life under the crust of Europa ice on the ocean where it is warmer? What could be the temperature under the ...
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Life on other planets
If all living things like animals require oxygen to live, how can people think that there could be life on other planets such as mars for example ? Living things require oxygen and carbon dioxide, and ...
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How far can a planet with living beings get before we cannot see the living beings? [duplicate]
Let there be a planet with Earth-like life. However, no trash or monuments or other visible structures, just organisms. How far can that planet be from Earth before our equipment just cannot observe ...
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