Q. Pick TWO places in our solar system and tell me why you are hopeful there may be life there. Why?
According to Patel (2021), although there is little likelihood of finding little green people in a corner of our solar system, there are a few candidates for astral bodies where it might be possible to find microbial life, such as bacteria. The first likely candidate is one of Neptunes moons, Triton. Although its surface is icy, mainly consisting of water nitrogen, and seemingly impossibly cold, there is some warmth generated by the gravitational pull between the planet and moon that could, at least theoretically warm its surface (Patel, 2021). A second candidate is Ceres, the smallest dwarf planet (Patel, 2021). This seems promising because there is the potential of actual water being present within the planet. Even if life is not found on the planets surface, it is possible that life may be lying within (Patel, 2021). In short, where is the potential for warmth and water, there is the potential for at least some primitive life forms.
Q2. Do you think there could be intelligent life in our solar system (just our solar system, we will address the galaxy at large on the final)?
According to NASA, more sophisticated technology has enabled excavation of life outside of the immediate planet in a way previously not possible. This includes the hydrothermal vents of the moons of Saturn and looking beneath the surface of Marss icy surface. Exploring planets like Venus and Mars may also give hints of previously existing life before the planets became uninhabitable. However, intelligent sentient life that is similar to human intelligence seems unlikely to be found. It is possible that bacteria or primitive unicelled beings may be discovered, but these organisms do not have the type of decision-making or instinctive capabilities of truly intelligent life. For that, humans will have to likely look outside of the solar system, and even then, the beings which are found may not conform to our definition of intelligence.
References
Brennan, P. (2020). Life in our solar system? Meet our neighbors. NASA. Retrieved from: https://exoplanets.nasa.gov/news/1665/life-in-our-solar-system-meet-the-neighbors/
Patel, N. (2021). The best places to find extraterrestrial life in our solar system, ranked. MIT Technology Review. Retrieved from: https://www.technologyreview.com/2021/06/16/1026473/best-worlds-extraterrestrial-life-solar-system-ranked/
Copernicus Background and Education Astronomer from Poland, Nicolaus Copernicus, was most famous for his following thesis: the sun, rather than our planet, forms the universe's center.[footnoteRef:1] Born on 19th February, 1473 in West Prussian city, Torun, to Barbara Watzenrode and Nicolaus Copernicus Senior, a wealthy copper merchant, he was the youngest of four siblings. To be precise, Copernicus hailed from Germany, considering his birthplace at the time and his first language --
Solar System Formation of the Solar System Many scientists believed that the solar system was formed when in space a cloud of gas and dust was disturbed, by the explosion of a close by star known as a supernova. This explosion made waves in space which compressed the cloud of gas and dust. The cloud starts to collapse after getting pressed, as gravity together pulled the gas and dust, and formed a
Copernicus & Galileo What did Copernicus discover about the universe? Copernicus refuted earlier theories that the earth was the center of the universe and became the stepping stone Galileo later used to fine-tune the theory and Earth and the other planets revolve around the sun. These early scientists faced punishment from the Catholic Church but in the secular future they opened the door to truth and knowledge. Nicolaus Copernicus was born on February
Solar Flares What causes solar storms? Why should people nearly a hundred million miles away on Earth care so much about them? Massive explosions of electrified plasma from the sun are identified as Solar Storms but often they just cause a beautiful light show in the farthest points of the Northern and Southern Hemispheres. The reason why human beings need to understand and care about solar storms is that they have
In this regard, some exceptions have been given to the insurance companies while the other companies should follow these principles. In the year 2005, the commercial sector of the United Kingdom spent $16,500 million for fossil fuels of 350,000 GWh. On the other hand, researchers have reported that a decline of energy consumption has been observed in the tertiary sector of the United Kingdom (Probst & Roecker, 2011, pg 109-124). Hot
Our semester plans gives you unlimited, unrestricted access to our entire library of resources —writing tools, guides, example essays, tutorials, class notes, and more.
Get Started Now