• Question: do you believe that it is possible for there to be any living species on a planet other than earth?

    Asked by anon-268318 to Sam on 12 Nov 2020.
    • Photo: Sam Geen

      Sam Geen answered on 12 Nov 2020:

      I think so! There are 100 billion stars in the Milky Way, and about as many galaxies in the universe that we can see. So the probability that Earth is the only planet with life is very small. We might not find intelligent life for a while if it is far away from Earth or in another galaxy, but we might find signs that there is some simple life on other planets with future telescopes by looking for evidence of life in planet atmospheres.

Comments

  • Photo: Oriana

    Oriana commented on :

    I am sure there is life outside our planet as universe it massive and full with rich material that can shape life. Currently, we are searching for organic material and microscopic particles such as the extremophiles and there are some good candidates outside.

  • Photo: Andreas

    Andreas commented on :

    I thin it is very likely that there is life on other planets. The way scientists think about this is the famous Drake equation.
    (https://www.seti.org/drake-equation-index).
    Since it was first put together almost 60 years ago we have already learned quite a bit. In particular we now know that indeed many stars have planets orbiting around them. Finding planets of far away stars is done by looking at the tiny dimming of the star light, when a planet passes over it (like an eclipse, but a much smaller effect) and by looking for wobbeling of stars induced by their planetary partner.