Moontanman Posted December 16, 2017 Posted December 16, 2017 This makes more and more sense as we learn more. Worlds with liquid oceans and atmospheres seem to be out numbered quite badly, at least in our own planetary system... https://futurism.com/life-cosmos-exist-frozen-ice-worlds/ Quote In the hunt for extra-terrestrial life, scientists tend to take what is known as the “low-hanging fruit approach”. This consists of looking for conditions similar to what we experience here on Earth, which include at oxygen, organic molecules, and plenty of liquid water. Interestingly enough, some of the places where these ingredients are present in abundance include the interiors of icy moons like Europa, Ganymede, Enceladus and Titan. Whereas there is only one terrestrial planet in our Solar System that is capable of supporting life (Earth), there are multiple “Ocean Worlds” like these moons. Taking this a step further, a team of researchers from the Harvard Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (CfA) conducted a study that showed how potentially-habitable icy moons with interior oceans are far more likely than terrestrial planets in the Universe. 1
Silvestru Posted December 18, 2017 Posted December 18, 2017 Hehe very similar to a post from a few weeks back.
Moontanman Posted December 18, 2017 Author Posted December 18, 2017 2 hours ago, Silvestru said: Hehe very similar to a post from a few weeks back. I am sorry, I didn't realise!
Silvestru Posted December 18, 2017 Posted December 18, 2017 Nono, I didn't mean it like that. I read all your article after I posted and actually the subject is the same but these are two different sets of information.
Outrider Posted December 19, 2017 Posted December 19, 2017 On 12/18/2017 at 9:25 AM, Moontanman said: I am sorry, I didn't realise! It's all good. I really enjoyed your article and hope you read mine. I have been fascinated with Europa and Enceladus for some time now. They are so much more interesting to me than all the other "worlds" in our solar system. I sure would like to know what is under all that ice. Is anybody ok with us sticking a drill in? Anybody not ok with it? I mean we have already mucked up one habitable world. I am on the fence myself.
Moontanman Posted December 19, 2017 Author Posted December 19, 2017 1 hour ago, Outrider said: It's all good. I really enjoyed your article and hope you read mine. I have been fascinated with Europa and Enceladus for some time now. They are so much more interesting to me than all the other "worlds" in our solar system. I sure would like to know what is under all that ice. Is anybody ok with us sticking a drill in? Anybody not ok with it? I mean we have already mucked up one habitable world. I am on the fence myself. Europa is fascinating to me because it's possible it has oxygen beneath the ice (Thunderbird my friend, I wish I could concede that argument) This might allow complex life but I haven't seen any data on Enceladus as far as oxygen but bacteria for sure! Some would even say that Pluto might have deep ice locked oceans. Then there is Ceres! Thomas Gold, in his book "The Deep Hot Biosphere" postulated that life is a natural development of planetary formation and at some point nearly all planets have life before conditions change and extinguish that life. http://www.pnas.org/content/89/13/6045.abstract https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Gold Quote The discovery of life in this adverse environment led Gold to reconsider the established interpretation of biogenic petroleum formation. Gold believed that "biology is just a branch of thermodynamics" and that the history of life is just "a gradual systematic development toward more efficient ways of degrading energy".[36]
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