Questions tagged [astrobiology]
Questions about the origins of life on Earth, and the existence and detection of extraterrestrial life.
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What part of a star's habitable zone has the best chance of developing life?
I was thinking about superhabitable worlds a while ago, and I figured the best position regarding probability of life would be nearer the outer habitable zone, since it's easier to develop a ...
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Why there are no terrestrial planets with a subsurface ocean?
Subsurface oceans in satellites are pretty common: Europa, Enceladus, Ganymede, Callisto, maybe Pluto... This is due to tidal heating of their host planet, Jupiter and Saturn, which heats up the inner ...
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If phosphine gas is to be proof of life on a planet, shouldn't there be other gases too?
If microbes on Venus produce phosphine, wouldn't there also be other gases produced by microbes since earth has many kinds of bacteria and the fast reproduction rate of bacteria make genetic mutations ...
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Are there plans to detect life on Earth from the outer solar system?
This has been kicking around in my head for a while. We've been detecting planets for decades by observing regular dips in starlight from many light years away as a planet transits its host star. I've ...
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Life around a former brown dwarf
Imagine a brown dwarf of any given mass (between the usual 13j - ~90j mark). It orbits within the outer edge of a reasonably quiet star's habitable zone. Within about 55 million years, it stops fusing ...
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Do M dwarf stars emit the wavelengths of the electromagnetic spectrum necessary for photosynthesis?
I read a lot of press as of late about earth size planets around the habitable zone of M dwarf stars. I am not an astronomer but I assume this means that the distance will allow liquid water to exist.
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What is the evolutionary leap in the great filter? [closed]
This might be very unclear, but in pictures explaining the great filter, there is an evolutionary leap that the civilisation is most likely not to be able to pass through. But what is that leap? Is it ...
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Can it be possible to get ice from other moons?
Could it be possible to send out something similar to a probe to one of the moons in the solar system that most likely have water under the cover of the ice and then bring back tests to Earth to see ...
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What would be 1 hour equivalent on these moons of Jupiter and Saturn compared to earth? And their astrobiological implications
Considering the distance from and velocity of Sun, Saturn, Jupiter, thermal energy due to motion other than that adding/combining to velocity, and the individual mass and velocity of the particular ...
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Have there been any searches for extraterrestrial life which doesn't require water, oxygen and carbon?
This is question is similar to this, but that question has already been voted to be closed. I will add though that I joined this website today, so I am still learning how to write a good question here....
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Life forms on planets not requiring water and oxygen as basic building blocks [closed]
When scientists explore other planets such as Mars, they look for life derived from water and oxygen (correct me if I am wrong) with a purpose to see whether that planet is habitable for humans or not....
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Calculating "maximum" distance to an alien civilization
I'm planning on making a video related to Fermi Paradox, and I've used Omni Calculator's Alien Civilization calculator as a reference. I noticed they have a field that calculates the "maximum&...
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Could life develop in a galaxy with a quasar at its centre?
Quasars are a type of Active Galactic Nucleus that inhabit the centres of some galaxies. They are among the most energetic objects known in the universe, emitting up to a thousand times the energy ...
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Infrared ozone line detection
I was recently reading Jack R. Woods' response on this forum: Could the James Webb Space Telescope detect biosignals on exoplanets?
In an ideal situation (say looking at absorption lines of a
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What are opinions of most planetary scientists on this study (link below), were there already some complex reviews in scientific journals?
I remember this two year old article from Universe Today about this study, "Stepwise Earth oxygenation is an inherent property of global biogeochemical cycling", by Lewis J. Alcott, Benjamin ...
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