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The Question
(Submitted November 19, 1996)
My question is what is really out there? Is there any form of life out
there?
The Answer
Your question is a good one and,
since I am not a real expert in any of
these subjects, I think the best way for you to learn more is if you look
at some of the web pages which have answers. I can say that many scientists
think it is possible that there is life elsewhere in the Universe, but that
finding it may prove difficult. First of all, we don't know exactly
what form life on other planets outside our solar system might take, so
it is difficult to know how to search for it. Second, the universe is a
big place, and radio signals (and space vehicles) travel too slowly
to allow us to find life that is very far away. We do know something about
the conditions on Mars, the planet in our solar system which is most likely
to have life, and it turns out to be similar to the conditions in
Antarctica (except for the lack of oxygen). So we can guess what
forms of life might be able to survive there, and there are projects under way
that will someday send machines to Mars which can look for these kinds of
life. There is more information about the exploration of Mars, for example in
http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/274/5290/1075
Also, the SETI ("Search for ExtraTerrestrial Intelligence")
institute has some pages which may be useful:
http://www.seti-inst.edu
I hope this is helpful to you!
Sincerely,
Tim Kallman
(for the Ask a High-Energy Astronomer team)
Questions on this topic are no longer responded to by the "Ask a
High-Energy Astronomer" service. See http://imagine.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/ask_astro/ask_an_astronomer.html
for help on other astronomy Q&A services.
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