Jupiter-like or Mars-like planets beyond our solar system should also be a focus for the search for life, says a British astrophysicist. Prof. Tim Naylor of the University of Exeter, says that planets that do not resemble Earth should not be ignored
Jupiter-like or Mars-like planets beyond our solar system should also be a focus for the search for life, says a British astrophysicist. Professor Tim Naylor of the University of Exeter, says that planets that do not resemble Earth should not be ignored.
"If we can find living creatures in extreme areas on Earth, such as in hot springs in the ocean rift, we can also find them in gas giants outside the solar system, of which we have already discovered over a hundred of them.
He urges biologists to draw new parameters for extraterrestrial life based on knowledge of the most durable creatures on Earth.
Bacteria that thrive in boiling hot springs or volcanic basins stretch the limits of the conditions required to support life. According to Prof. Naylor, this increases the chances of finding life on non-Earth-like planets that orbit other suns. International experts met this week at the University of Exeter in southwest England, to discuss the question of what the necessary conditions are for life on other worlds. The symposium may lead to research into the growing list of extrasolar planets discovered so far. Many of the hundred planets are gas giants very close to their sun, and until now scientists used to ignore them with regards to the possibility of finding life on them.
If we can find thermophilic (heat-loving) bacteria, it shows that life could gain a foothold on a gas giant.
Several space telescopes are being prepared in the US and Europe to be used to search for smaller planets around other stars. The most ambitious project is probably Darwin, a program by the European Space Agency to place telescopes 1.5 million kilometers from Earth. A fleet of six telescopes will try to point to other worlds that could to serve as a home for life.” With so many stars to choose from, the prime candidates would be the closest and most similar to Earth, but Not all scientists agree. British planet hunter Dr Hugh Jones of John Moores University in Liverpool says we need to get better data on the conditions for life in different environments before sending expensive projects like Darwin.
Thermophiles in any variety of environments can be part of the search for life," he said. But when I launch such missions, it would be a shame if we didn't design them to look for Earth-like planets."
For news at the BBC
