Life on other planets

1. Life On Other Planets
By: Greg Geanon

2. Basics
•Ever since people have started observing the sky,
there has been the question of whether we are
alone or not.
•Frank Drake, the scientist who invented the
Drake equation which is an equation to find the
number of civilizations in our galaxy, estimates
that there are 10,000 communicating civilizations
in our galaxy alone.
•Nasa estimated in 1999 that there were 125
billion galaxies in our universe.

3. Basics pt. 2
• Very conservative estimates say that there
are approximately 6.25 billion life supporting
solar systems in the universe.
•It is very probable that there is a least one
planet out there that is currently supporting
life.

4. Habitable Zone
This diagram shows where planets could be in relation
to where the star is and size of the star in order to
support Earth-like life.

5. Venus
•It’s possible that there were large oceans on
Venus’s surface 4 billion years ago, when the
sun wasn’t as bright.
•Some scientists believe that early life forms
were blasted off the surface of Venus by
meteor impacts and managed to land on
Earth, and start life on Earth.
•There may still be small microbes living in
Venus’s atmosphere, 31 miles above the
surface.

6. Mars
•Long thought to contain life.
•Many believe that water existed on Mars in
the past, and there may still be water below
the surface.
•A test by a Mars rover in 2008 showed that
there was water in the soil.
•There is evidence that water flowed on the
surface within the past 10 years.

7. Jupiter
•Despite the fact that Jupiter is a gas planet, many
people believe that there could be life on it.
•Some people believe that there are fish type
creatures that live on Jupiter in the atmosphere,
but the atmosphere is very intense and would
likely kill any life.
•Microbes would have to go very far into Jupiter
to find an area where water doesn’t freeze, but
the pressure would be very intense.

8. Moons in the Solar System
•There are 138 known moons in our solar system and
several of them appear to be capable of supporting
life.
•Europa is one of Jupiter’s moons. It’s possible that
below the ice there is water that is heated by vents,
supporting plant life.

9. Titan and Enceladus
•Enceladus is one of Saturn’s moons and is
thought to be able to support life. There is
strong evidence supporting the theory that
there is a large salt ocean below the surface,
possibly supporting life.
•Titan, Saturn’s largest moon, has lakes of
liquid methane on the surface and a heavy
atmosphere. This is the first body outside of
Earth known to have surface liquids.

10. Pictures of Titan and Enceladus
Picture showing Titan’s
methane lakes
Picture of the moon
Enceladus

11. Life Outside of our Solar System
•It is more than likely that there is life outside of
our solar system that exists, but we haven’t
discovered.
•Scientists send out radio signals in space hoping to
get a response from aliens, but this would be highly
unlikely, because if another civilization was using
radio technology now, by the time it gets there they
might have moved on, or not even discovered it
yet.
•Scientists are looking in distant solar systems for
planets that are a certain distance from the sun and
have the right planetary conditions to support life.

12. Life Outside of our Solar System pt.2
•On April 24, 2007 scientists discovered an
extrasolar planet, a planet that’s not in our solar
system, that orbits the right distance from it’s
star to support life.
•The planet was named Gliese 581 c, and was at
first thought to have liquid on the surface. Recent
research has found that there could be an
atmosphere with lots of greenhouses that would
cause high temperatures, lessening the chance of
discovering life on the planet.

13. Life Outside of our Solar System pt. 3
•Scientists are now looking at Gliese 581 d
which is also inside the habitable zone. It is
approximately 20 light years away in the
constellation Libra.
•So far, scientists have discovered over 400
extrasolar planets, and scientists are
discovering even more every month
increasing the chance that we will make
contact with alien life soon.

14. Works Cited
•2007, the ESA's Venus Express probe in. "Life on Venus?." SolStation.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 2 Feb. 2010.
<http://www.solstation.com/life/ven-life.htm>.
•"A Second Earth in Our Solar System - AAAS conference - io9." io9. We come from the future.. N.p., n.d.
Web. 2 Feb. 2010. <http://io9.com/357828/a-second-earth-in-our-solar-system>.
•"File:Glieseupdated.jpg - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia." Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. N.p., n.d.
Web. 3 Feb. 2010. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Glieseupdated.jpg>.
•"How many galaxies are there?." Imagine The Universe! Home Page. N.p., n.d. Web. 2 Feb. 2010.
<http://imagine.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/ask_astro/answers/021127a.html>.
•"Is There Life on Jupiter?." Universe Today. N.p., n.d. Web. 2 Feb. 2010. <http://www.universetoday.com/
guide-to-space/jupiter/is-there-life-on-jupiter/>.
•National, The. " Haretry." Haretry. N.p., n.d. Web. 2 Feb. 2010. <http://harlanh.wordpress.com/>.
•"Phone number for MARS in Chicopee, Massachusetts." Weblo Virtual Domains, Property, Celebrity and
Auction. N.p., n.d. Web. 2 Feb. 2010. <http://www.weblo.com/property/real_estate/MARS/2286671/>.
•"ThinkQuest : 404 - Page Not Found." Oracle ThinkQuest Library . N.p., n.d. Web. 2 Feb. 2010.
<http://library.thinkquest.org/.../planets/jupiter.html>.
•"enceladus." www.fredtopeka.wordpress.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 2 Feb. 2010.
<fredtopeka.wordpress.com/.../>.
•"habitable zone." www.astro801.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 2 Feb. 2010. <
https:/.../astro801/book/export/html/2021>.

15. Works Cited pt. 2
•"life." www.yedda.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 2 Feb. 2010. <yedda.com/.../>.
•"mysterious planet." www.forums.gametrailers.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 2 Feb. 2010.
<forums.gametrailers.com/.../954098>.
•"planet." www.worldofwierdthings.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 2 Feb. 2010. <worldofweirdthings.com/.../>.
• tes. "File:Planet Gliese 581 d.png - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia." Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
N.p., n.d. Web. 3 Feb. 2010. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Planet_Gliese_581_d.png>.
•"titan's lakes." www.nasa.gov. N.p., n.d. Web. 2 Feb. 2010.
<www.nasa.gov/.../multimedia/pia09183.html>.
•"venus." zuserver2.star.ucl.ac.uk. N.p., n.d. Web. 2 Feb. 2010. <
zuserver2.star.ucl.ac.uk/~idh/apod/ap970507.html>.