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Astrobiology: The Search for Life in the Universe - Prof. Timothy H. Farris, Study notes of Astronomy

Vol State Community College Astronomy

Prof. Timothy H. Farris

The key conditions for life as we know it, focusing on the importance of liquid water and carbon. It also discusses potential places to search for life within our solar system, including mars and jupiter's moons. The document also touches upon the possibility of life beyond our solar system and the challenges of communicating with extraterrestrial civilizations using the drake equation.

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Astrobiology

Important"things"forlifeasweknowit:

LiquidWater :

providesamediumforchemicalsreactions

"universalsolvent"

providesamediumfortransportofnutrients

providesamediumfortransportofwaste

Wheretolookforlife:wherethere'swater

Carbonbasedlife :

Carbon,ofallthechemicalelements,hasabalanceof

(a)beingchemicallyactive

(b)formingavarietyofstablecompounds

(Otherelementsthatarechemicallysimilartocarbon,like

silicon&germanium,willformavarietyofcompounds,but

nottotheextentofcarbon&notonessuitableforlife.)

"TheHorta"episodeofStarTrek

So,anotherrequirementiscarbon.

Note:LifeonEarthis everywhere . Itfillseverynook&

crannyontheplanet.Doesthismeanthatifaplanet

holdslife,willitfilltheplanet?Hopefullynot,because

thatrulesouteverywhereelseinthesolarsystem.

Title:May289:02AM(1of6)

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Astrobiology

Important "things" for life as we know it:

Liquid Water : provides a medium for chemicals reactions "universal solvent" provides a medium for transport of nutrients provides a medium for transport of waste

Where to look for life: where there's water

Carbonbased life : Carbon, of all the chemical elements, has a balance of (a) being chemically active (b) forming a variety of stable compounds

(Other elements that are chemically similar to carbon, like silicon & germanium, will form a variety of compounds, but not to the extent of carbon & not ones suitable for life.) "The Horta" episode of Star Trek

So, another requirement is carbon.

Note: Life on Earth iseverywhere. It fills every nook & cranny on the planet. Does this mean that if a planet holds life, will it fill the planet? Hopefully not, because that rules out everywhere else in the solar system.

Places in the solar system that may be candidates for life:

Mars: possibility of underground water, methane

there could be (microbial) life under the surface

Jupiter's moons Europa, Ganymede & Callisto have

saltwater oceans under their icy surfaces.

Saturn's moons Titan & Enceladus Enceladus has

water geysers on it (not sure if it's ice or liquid water). Titan

has "hydrologic" cycle of methane. You could have life that

uses methane as the liquid solvent instead of water.

The Drake Equation Developed by Frank Drake, a radio astronomer, in the 1960's to help quantify the likelihood of communicating with any civilizations that might exist in our Galaxy.

N = the # of technologicallyadvanced civilizations in the Galaxy

Let's make an estimate of "N."

In the systems discovered so far we have big planets close to the star. (But that's skewed by our technique, which is more likely to detect big planets close to stars.)