Life elsewhere in the Solar System

[NDA]

BarnatosGhost said:

Does our moon have a name? Every other moon does.

For that matter, does our sun have a name?

Derek and Angela.

[callyman]

TheHeretic said:

'Sol'?

Sol is a Latin name isnt it?
The only scientific name is Sun.

[TheHeretic]

Aren't most scientific names Latin? Is Angela Latin?

[jingars]

Earth's moon is very occasionally referred to as Selene, after the Greek goddess of The Moon.

When I was contracting I set up a limited company with the name Selene in it and the moon as a logo - as most of the people I was doing work for seemed to want the Moon on a stick...

[Eric Mc]

The geology of teh moon is properly called selenography (geo is Greek for earth).

HG Wells called the inhabitants of the moon Selenites.

We call our moon The Moon because for most of human history it was the only moon we knew of.

[JohneeBoy]

I love how we could know for sure if life exists or existed on other planets or moons in our solar system within the next 10-20 years. If found life is evolved enough I think it would all but prove that life, and therefore intelligent life, will exist somewhere in the Universe (something I don't doubt at all anyway).

[TheHeretic]

Well, we are proof life can exist in the universe. We don't need to find it elsewhere to prove that!

[NDA]

TheHeretic said:

Well, we are proof life can exist in the universe. We don't need to find it elsewhere to prove that!

Quite.

A succinct and rather profound point.

[uktrailmonster]

TheHeretic said:

Well, we are proof life can exist in the universe. We don't need to find it elsewhere to prove that!

Awesome!

[JohneeBoy]

uktrailmonster said:

TheHeretic said:

Well, we are proof life can exist in the universe. We don't need to find it elsewhere to prove that!

Awesome!

Well said.

[SystemParanoia]

sauna anyone ?

[callyman]

'Only' 40 light years away too.
Compared to other earth like planets it's fairly close.

[Eric Mc]

Bedazzled said:

They've found a new planet with water here, quite nearby too. Not sure it's a candidate for life, but quite interesting all the same.

Not quite in the spirit of the thread title.

[Simpo Two]

jingars said:

Earth's moon is very occasionally referred to as Selene, after the Greek goddess of The Moon.

Skimming too fast I read that as 'Earth's moon is very occasionally referred to as Steve'



Cool moon eh? 'Steve'

[Eric Mc]

And the new moon discovered mmore recently is called Kevin.

[scubadude]

NDA said:

Highly likely that there is life out there - there are more suns in our single galaxy than there are grains of sand on earth. But is would take tens of thousands of years to visit them or for them to visit us. The earth will have ceased to be before we are the discoverers or discovered.

Agreed- we're never going to meet and shake hands/limbs/tenticles

But I see no reason why we couldn't "discover" life elsewhere, either bugs or bacteria on a moon in the outer solar system or life of exoplanets through EM wave transmissions, be they old radio or the signature of glowing sodium in the night (street lights on Alien highways :-) or flashes of light from explosions or burning of fires in war or industry.

We've been burning wood and coal for 1000's of years, anyone advanced enough to recognise that will have a F-off big telescope and be able to see it, eventually we'll be able to do the same.... how irritating will that be? Knowing their is someone with a brightly lit city 100light years away but knowing none of us will ever meet them!

Probability says there is life, lots of it, out there.

[SystemParanoia]

i gaurentee that if there were a guaranteed civilisation 100ly away, we as a people would already be building a multi-generational hollowed out asteroid starship to go there!!

[R300will]

SystemParanoia said:

i gaurentee that if there were a guaranteed civilisation 100ly away, we as a people would already be building a multi-generational hollowed out asteroid starship to go there!!

depends wether their planet has precious resources or not. that spaceship will cost a lot i bet.

[NDA]

scubadude said:

Agreed- we're never going to meet and shake hands/limbs/tenticles

But I see no reason why we couldn't "discover" life elsewhere, either bugs or bacteria on a moon in the outer solar system or life of exoplanets through EM wave transmissions, be they old radio or the signature of glowing sodium in the night (street lights on Alien highways :-) or flashes of light from explosions or burning of fires in war or industry.

We've been burning wood and coal for 1000's of years, anyone advanced enough to recognise that will have a F-off big telescope and be able to see it, eventually we'll be able to do the same.... how irritating will that be? Knowing their is someone with a brightly lit city 100light years away but knowing none of us will ever meet them!

Probability says there is life, lots of it, out there.

Yes, true.... We could discover but be unable to visit or communicate. I have always firmly believed there's life out there, has to be, we're so average in planetary terms, stuck on the edge of a mediocre galaxy on the edge of a boggling universe with billions of immense galaxies.

Very frustrating to have such a limited ability to explore it all.

[Laplace]

I don't doubt it myself, whatever form it may take, be it bacteria or algae. I think Hawkings has the right idea in saying that primitive life is very common and intelligent life is very rare.

It would be incredible to hear of any discovery during our life time.