To believe that each star, a distant sun, may have life?

[Mydoglicksplates]

Camping in the back garden, looking at the stars, trying to teach the kids the constellations.
Each star, a distant sun, how can there not be life out there?
Also does anyone feel comfort from the stars, the same stars that prehistoric prayed before, that millions of people have sent their prayers too?

I wouldn’t be surprised if there was life elsewhere in this solar system (very basic unicellular life in the oceans of Europa).

Most stars have planetary systems and countless billions are hypothetically capable of sustaining life.

Life? Probably.

Intelligent life? Much much less likely.

We aren’t just bigger, cleverer versions of bacteria. The atmospheric circumstances that created multicellular organisms were very specific and also required one cell with one type of metabolism to be physically near to and engulf another with a different metabolism, somehow keeping it whole rather than consuming it (probably unintentionally) and then reproducing itself.

It’s not purely a numbers game.

Endosymbiotic theory.

To the pp, every night when I take my dogs out for a pee I always check Betelgeuse. How amazing would that be if it goes nova; they say it will be as bright in the night sky as the moon.

To the OP, if your and your children’s imaginations have been sparked them I can HIGHLY recommend the Brian Cox TV series The Planets. In one of the later episodes he talks about which planets (and moons) within our solar system have had the best chance for supporting life. A bit nearer to home than you imagined!!

Earth is towards the outer edge of our solar system. As you look towards the centre it looks busier with more visible matter. I imagine the inhabitants at the centre being in contact with one another and looking sympathetically at us over in the sticks beyond the reach of communication. 😂

There may be other forms of biochemistry possible which wouldn't require exactlymthe same type of metabolism as us though. Pmdw. A suitable temperature and pressure for organic molecules to be stable, and for water to be liquid with various ionic salts dissolved in it.

And once life has reached a certain point of complexity, intelligence of various forms is an evolutionary advantage.

There will most likely be life on other planets out there that we are unaware of - like a pp said, with billions of other galaxies in the universe, is earth going to be the only planet in it which is in a 'habitable zone'?

@RapunzelsBuzzcut

Europa would be a good shout, but given its inherent proximity to Jupiter, it would be exposed to a hellish dosage of radiation.

There is certainly life out there in the Universe beyond here on Earth, but I dont think there is any life out there that its more intelligent than us, otherwise that superiority would have enabled them to find us by now.

(Or maybe they thought this place isnt worth it and fucked off home again!!)

I don't think that's necessarily true.

It's still in doubt whether the mangling of the laws of physics necessary to facilitate realistic travel between Solar Systems for any life form is even possible, so it's entirely likely that if there are, or have in the past been highly technologically advanced civilisations out there, then it's entirely plausible that they've risen, persisted for millions of years, then disappeared again without ever discovering how to travel outside their own Solar System.

Likewise with humanity. We could well be extinct before we ever figure out how to send humans beyond Mars safely, never mind travelling tens of thousands of light years. Personally, I don't think it's likely we'll accomplish it, but I'm sure some folk thought that about setting foot on the moon and such.

I am a massive Trek fan and I love looking up at the stars wishing I could be on a Star ship meeting new civilisations ( I am 65 and should know better)

Most scientists who are studying this stuff believe it is overwhelmingly probable that the universe is teeming with life.

We know from our own planet that wherever there is liquid water, there is life, even in the absence of sunlight, eg geo-thermal vents on the deep ocean floor. We believe that liquid water is present elsewhere in our own solar system, on Jupiter’s moons. If this water supports life, that would be very strong evidence to suggest life is ubiquitous.

The big question is, what sort of life? Single-cell organisms? Bacteria? Algae? Advanced civilisations? We have no idea. If the latter do exist, we must have been looking in the wrong places or for the wrong evidence because SETI, the Search for Extra Terrestrial Intelligence has been going on for almost half a century and has found nothing.

ErroltheDragon it’s not about the specific metabolism. The endosymbiotic event resulted in our mitochondria and allowed a much larger respiratory surface and one not entirely dependent on the outer cell membrane, so multiple-cell organisms could form and so on.

Without the endosymbiotic event, organisms were limited by their surface area, which itself puts a limit on how complex a life form can get.

I do believe there are other planets with life. I just think the chances of the right kind of circumstances to cause more complex and intelligent life are much rarer and involve a lot of right-time-right-place-dumb-luck. In our case, the dumb luck was some anaerobic cell being unable to digest an aerobic cell and one went on living inside the other.

it’s not about the specific metabolism. The endosymbiotic event resulted in our mitochondria and allowed a much larger respiratory surface and one not entirely dependent on the outer cell membrane, so multiple-cell organisms could form and so on.

Sure - but I don't see why there wouldn't be other ways of evolving towards the same ends which don't depend on that remarkable contingency which applied to life on Earth.

At some point (not particularly soon) we might be able to simulate alternative pathways. It's a bit frustrating that we'll almost certainly never know what alternative molecular machinery might exist - and even more interesting what commonalities there might be.

Realising just how tiny we are compared to the universe gives me immense peace.

I'm sure there is life out there. I love the idea that beings on other planets are stating at the same stars as me and wondering who else they share the universe with.

Good post, op :)

Well the Pentagon has officially released videos of UFOs, so at this point I'd say it's pretty likely.

No doubt in my mind that there is "life" in whatever form that may take out there.

We ain't that special.

@Oldsu I hear you! If only we could "make it so" :)

“Two possibilities exist, that we are alone in the universe or that we are not. Both are equally terrifying “ Arthur C Clarke. One of my favourite quotes 👽 🚀

Well not every star, no.

There probably is some sort of life elsewhere in the universe. Probably in countless elsewheres. None of it’s been here though.

I like the idea of us being wedged in the crack of a giant kitchen tile

I’ve always assumed there is life elsewhere and that like us none of it has managed yet to work out the travel arrangements to get this far and give us a wave. Or maybe they have and thought best to leave us to our primitive ways undisturbed. You know like those Amazonian people we know exist but have left alone? The ones that have never encountered other humans and would kill us if they met us? That’s us- we’d try and kill the aliens. It’s in all the movies.

As Arthur C Clarke said "Two possibilities exist: Either we are alone in the Universe, or we are not. Both are equally terrifying."

Most of the stars you see with the naked eye are in our galaxy, the Milky Way.

Hubble’s deep field telescope found thousands more galaxies (if not millions) in that same space represented by your small fingernail held out at arm's length.

It has been scientifically guesstimated there are more stars in the universe than there are grains of sand on all the worlds beaches.

The most mind-blowing thing. About 14 billion years ago all that you see was compressed to less than the size of an atom. What became the tip of Sagamartha (Everest), all the world’s whales, Mars and you and I, all came out of that tiny space.

When I think about the vastness of space, I think of Unending Love, Rabindranath Tragore. It fulfills that physical space between ourselves and anything else.

m.youtube.com/watch?v=S2PjJ4X5_eU

Well if there is life out there I wish they would pop down and see us. It might give the news reporters something to talk about rather than you know what.

Most scientists who are studying this stuff believe it is overwhelmingly probable that the universe is teeming with life.

www.seti.org/drake-equation-index

What do we need to know about to discover life in space? How can we estimate the number of technological civilizations that might exist among the stars? While working as a radio astronomer at the National Radio Astronomy Observatory in Green Bank, West Virginia, Dr. Frank Drake conceived an approach to bound the terms involved in estimating the number of technological civilizations that may exist in our galaxy. The Drake Equation, as it has become known, was first presented by Drake in 1961 and identifies specific factors thought to play a role in the development of such civilizations. Although there is no unique solution to this equation, it is a generally accepted tool used by the scientific community to examine these factors.
-- Frank Drake, 1961

Well if there is life out there I wish they would pop down and see us. It might give the news reporters something to talk about rather than you know what.

I genuinely don’t think anyone would be at all surprised if that happened this year

Slightly off topic, but did you know that on a clear night you can see about 2000 stars with the naked eye,much less than most people imagine.