Are we alone in the universe? This question has been tormenting our imagination for more than one hundred years. And the more we learn, the more unfortunate it becomes that the Earth is the only miracle and shelter for living organisms among all the planets of other planets and galaxies known to science. Nevertheless, many scientists still believe that the discovery of extraterrestrial life in the universe is a matter of time. However, when reasoning about how this extraterrestrial life will look, scientific heads are already becoming less confident in their statements.
“We will find life in space during this century,” said Dr. Seth Shostak, head of the research project for the Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence Institute (SETI), speaking last week at the meeting of the European Communities Commission for the Review of Innovative Development.
“In space, more than 150 billion galaxies, one way or another different from our own. In each of these galaxies there are tens of billions of Earth-like planets. And the belief that the Earth is the only place in the Universe where interesting events take place is nothing but a miracle. 500 years of astronomical research have led us to understand that if you believe in miracles, you are most likely wrong. ”
Suppose that life in space on other planets really is. What form and how will we find it? Dr. Shostak believes that the answer to this question we can find in the next 25 years. We will either find it next door within our own solar system, in microbial form on Mars or one of the moons of Jupiter; or we will find evidence of extraterrestrial life in the form of gases produced as part of the life activity of living organisms (for example, photosynthesis) in the atmospheres of the planets orbiting around other stars in the Universe; or in the end, Dr. Shostak and his team at SETI will finally be able to catch the radio signal from intelligent extraterrestrial life.
Dr. Suzanne Egrain, an astrophysical lecturer at Oxford University who studies various planets outside the solar system, as well as exoplanets, believes that the events of the discovery of extraterrestrial life are likely to evolve taking into account the second option, that is, as part of the discovery of life products of living organisms. Speaking at the meeting, she expressed her confidence that we are not alone in this world.
“We’ve gotten very close to that moment, after which we can say with confidence that there are a large number of Earth-like planets in the Universe and in space. Planets inhabited. That's why every time someone asks about whether there is life on other planets, I always take the side of someone who believes that such a life can really exist, because there are plenty of possibilities for this. ”
Dr. Egrein and her research team, which she works with, use light (electromagnetic radiation) as the main tool for searching for planets orbiting around other suns. Potentially habitable planets are usually called those whose size is most closely related to the size of our Earth, as well as those whose surface temperature is suitable for keeping water on it in liquid form. Egrain and her colleagues believe that it is on such planets that “biomarkers” can remain, that is, traces of those gases in the atmosphere of exoplanets, which in their opinion could only be a consequence of the vital activity of biological creatures.
In turn, Dr. Shostak and SETI are looking for evidence of the existence of life in the Universe by observing the signs of technology. If his team can detect a radio broadcast from space, then, according to Shostak, this signal will be sent by a much more technically advanced civilization than we are.
“Why do I think that if we find an alien signal from an alien, then he / she / it will be more than technologically advanced?” The answer is very simple - Neanderthals do not send signals. Neanderthal Klingons hardly know how to build radio transmitters that would allow them to contact us. ”
If we really find life on other planets or intercept a radio message from distant neighbors in the Universe, then what will be the consequences of all this? After all, if we find the same cosmic microbes, then the question will turn out to be much deeper than just another note for books on biology - we will be expected to have enormous philosophical consequences.
“It will change everything we have ever known,” says Dr. Shostak.
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