• Question: do you belive there is life on another planet?

    Asked by adamepi8316 to Andrew, Ben, Beth, Heather, Louisa on 22 Jun 2010 in Categories: .
    • Photo: Louisa Chard

      Louisa Chard answered on 22 Jun 2010:

      Hi Adam, Ben can probably give you the best answer to this, but from what I have learnt about the nature of our solar system and the universe as a whole then I think it is very very likely there is or was life on someform on another planet. For example, we know that there was water on mars once and that it was warmer than it is now, so it’s likely that this could have sustained some life such as primitive bacteria. I think in our solar system that it is likely we could find evidence for extinct bacterial life forms on planets, maybe in other solar systems we could find planets with an atmosphere and conditions similar to our own that could still support life. What’s your opinion?

    • Photo: Ben Still

      Ben Still answered on 22 Jun 2010:

      To create an Earth like planet is a very rare thing indeed. The right size, the right distance from the right star, the right composition and probably the right bombardment of meteorites. I think that there are far too many stars and planets orbiting them to not recreate the conditions similar to those here on Earth. I think that complex life does exist out there some where.

      But. The the Universe is an extremely big place so I also think that the probability of one of those rare gems of a planet being within 100’s, even 1000’s of light years of our own is extremely rare. So Even though I think life is out there, I don’t think it is contactable.

    • Photo: Beth Dyson

      Beth Dyson answered on 22 Jun 2010:

      I think the universe is too big and too complicated for there not to be life somewhere else! Whether we’ll ever meet aliens, I don’t know, but I’d love it to happen! As long as they were friendly!

    • Photo: Heather McKee

      Heather McKee answered on 22 Jun 2010:

      Interesting question think no one could answer it as well as Ben-who has made a good point on whether if there is life is it contactable, It’d certainly be interesting to see if there are species as advanced as us elsewhere…….

    • Photo: Andrew McKinley

      Andrew McKinley answered on 22 Jun 2010:

      Absolutely! There are so many stars in our galaxy, and so many galaxies in the universe, I think it is inevitable that there must be life out there somewhere. As to whether we can contact them, that is another question entirely. Unless we can figure out a way to communicate faster than light (remember, since nothing can travel faster than light, the fastest we could communicate with our *nearest* star it would take at least 8 years for us to get a reply to our initial message!), then we’re not really sure what sort of relationship we could have with such a planet!

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