The study of aliens and whether other planets besides Earth are inhabited is the part of astronomy that interests me most. This web site examines the astronomy question, "Are Planets Inhabited or, to put it another way, are there aliens out there?"
Are some aliens in the universe watching us?
I have always loved astronomy and science-fiction and eventually managed to become employed working on the Apollo space program in New Orleans which put a man on the Moon. I wanted to be involved in the space program that I thought would eventually answer the age-old question: "Are the planets inhabited?".
This was in the 60's and the space race was really heating up. In the century prior to that time, most astronomers were optimistic that intelligent life existed in some form on other planets of our solar system. Earlier astronomers had seen "canals" on Mars and some astronomers thought the planet Venus with its huge cloud cover was a good possibility for life on other planets.
Titan, the largest moon of Saturn was known to have a thick atmosphere and was considered a possible acceptable world for life to have evolved and for the Saturn satellite to be inhabited by intelligent life. What a perfect spot for aliens!
Earlier in time, before the advent of the giant telescopes and space travel, some even assumed that the solar system gas giants, Jupiter, Saturn, Neptune and Uranus could harbor some form of alien life. Even the planet Mercury, the comets and asteroids might contain life forms according to early speculation.
When the astronomers of the past century looked beyond the Solar System to billions of stars that exist in our galaxy and the billions of other galaxies, some of them really got carried away. If even a tiny percentage of the stars had planets circling them, and if only a tiny percentage of the planets were inhabited by aliens, then there must be many planets around the universe that harbored intelligent life. I remember reading projections that millions of planets must be inhabited by life forms similar to those on Earth!
As a person I grew up reading Flash Gordon, Buck Rogers and fighting imaginary alien monsters with both ray guns blazing, I believed the astronomical projections that many planets were inhabited. I also believed that many planets would have space monsters to fight.
I was sure we would soon be conversing with beings from other worlds or even visiting them via time travel, through a space warp, black hole, or traveling faster than the speed of light. Certainly, the discovery of aliens would occur in my lifetime.
"Beam me up, Scotty!"
I was not alone in my desire to find life on other planets. Science fiction movies are full of inhabited planets. These planets are well covered in the TV Star Trek series and the Star Wars movies. Also, even Superman, as an alien baby, came from an planet which suffered calamitous destruction at the beginning of the movie. Alien was another movie that featured a vicious alien life form. Planet of the Apes, The Day the Earth Stood Still, War of the Worlds (movie and also Orson Welles on the radio) and E.T. were among classic science fiction movies featuring aliens.
Early on, the Dr. Who TV series had a good science fiction audience as did Lost in Space. In the comics, the venerable Dick Tracy, while mainly a detective character, included science fiction stuff........ remember Moon Maid, wristwatch tvs and anti-gravity machines! We ridiculed the Dick Tracy stuff but much of it is now becoming reality.
Long before movies came along, the written literature contained a large number of books, short stories, etc, almost all of which took place on alien planets.
Yes, I believed discovery of aliens and life on other planets was just around the corner. And I was not alone!
The UFO sightings mainly in the 50's and 60's also kept many people on the constant lookout for aliens. I'm sure most of the folks who reported sighting a UFO were honest and really thought they saw one. But they were not trained observers.
I also know of one instance where two guys working together cleverly faked a UFO sighting. Based on that example, I suspect at least some others were also having a bit of fun when they "reported" UFOs. Many people love practical jokes! And also love to get their names in the newspaper.
Folks, a lot has happened in astronomy in the past 50 years. Considerable evidence has been gathered by our visits to the Moon and our unmanned probes of planets and their satellites in this solar system. Additionally, our powerful optical telescopes have been joined by radio telescopes with many times the information gathering capacity of the optical scopes. Also, concerted efforts have been made to intercept radio (or other) signals being emitted by alien life forms elsewhere.
Alas, the information we have gathered indicates that the nice looking clouds of Venus are at a temperature of over 600º F. and contain large amounts of sulfuric acid, the canals of Mars are an optical illusion, and the thick atmosphere of Titan is composed largely of Methane and other hydrocarbon gases at an extremely low temperature. These bits of information are not what we alien lovers had hoped to see.
Not exactly attractive worlds to live in! Even for aliens!
The gathering of the information discussed above has had a disheartening result (to me, anyway). The original projections that millions of planets in the universe harbor intelligent life forms has been drastically downgraded. A recent projection was that only a few thousand planets in the entire universe might harbor intelligent life. And worse - it is still a minority viewpoint - more and more astronomers are coming to the opinion that only one planet in the universe - Earth - is inhabited by intelligent beings.
The logic of the doubting astronomers is this: If there were many intelligent civilizations out there, statistically, some of these civilizations would be older and far more scientifically advanced than Earth - possibly with millions of years of advanced scientific experience. These super civilizations would have no problem at all contacting us.
But so far, not a sound, not a peep from them! No word from aliens!
The doubting Thomas astronomers keep asking, "If they are there, where are they?"
The doubting Thomas astronomers also point out that Earth is an even more unique planet than we ever thought. They point out that, if Earth were only 5,000,000 miles closer to the sun, our atmosphere would be similar to the hellish atmosphere of Venus.
On the other hand, if Earth's orbit was located only 2,000,000 miles further from the sun, much of the planet would be engulfed in a vast ice age.
And if orbital distances from the sun are not enough to throw question on the existence of terrestrial life, our experience with global warming in the past few decades has shown that life forms can themselves cause great damage to a life-supporting planet, possibly causing life to become extinct on the planet..
What the doubting Thomas's are trying to tell us is that things must be just right for life (life as we know it) to exist on a planet. Earth is just about perfect but there may be few other planets that are as perfect.
Now, I must repeat that this pessimistic view is still a minority viewpoint. For example, the late Carl Sagan was very optimistic that other intelligent beings exist in the universe. And I, personally, have not given up hope!
I still go see all the science fiction movies and hopefully wait for word from scientists that contact with aliens has been made. I also read the articles on "other universes" that may coexist with our own, and that these other universes may contain stars and planets that we just can't see.
I must admit that I am not as optimistic about the search for alien life as I once was. At one time, I believed we would know the answer to the question, "Are the planets inhabited?" in the lifetime of this generation. I no longer believe that to be the case. It may take hundreds, if not thousands of year, to find out for certain........even if they are actually there and would be willing to talk to us!
In the meantime, keep your eyes on the sky!
Even if we never find any aliens in the universe, there is hope! We can, in effect, create some aliens for ourselves.
Terraforming is the process of altering a planet's (or planet satellite's) environment, e.g., atmosphere, so that man can live on them.
Mars has been considered a candidate for terraforming. Presently, Mars is a little too cold, the atmosphere is too thin and contains too little oxygen, and water may be too scarce for mankind to survive there. But the gravity is satisfactory, radiation is not too bad and can be further reduced via a manufactured atmosphere, and there are no alien monsters there to attack us. Also, there is some oxygen, carbon dioxide, and other materials needed for terraforming.
So, lets get busy on Mars increasing the temperature, producing more oxygen and nitrogen, and importing or finding some water. Doesn't sound too difficult, does it?
Lets not kid ourselves. It would be a tough job. A real tough job. But if Earth's science continues to develop at the same rate as it has the past few hundred years, the terraforming of Mars may be possible within a relatively short period of time.
One idea for terraforming Mars would be to deflect comets or even small asteroids onto the surface of Mars. The crash would liberate heat to increase the planet's temperature and the water and other gases contained in comets would be trapped on Mars. At the same time, biological agents could be imported to produce oxygen from the carbon dioxide and carbonate chemicals present on Mars. Additional oxygen, water, and other gases would be liberated from the Mars interior and from the colliding comets and asteroids. If the thickness of the atmosphere can be appreciably increased, a greenhouse effect would further heat the planet.
It might take a large number of comets deflected into Mars to do the job but, conceivably, with a few centuries work, terraforming could occur.
Want to volunteer to move to Mars?
1. Global Warming. Earth could turn into another scorching Venus if we don't get global warming under control.
2. Astrology. The much-maligned art of astrology is making a comeback. It is becoming high-tech and computer-oriented. Some good uses for astrology are being discovered, for example, in the field of psychology.
The probability that intelligent beings (aliens) exist on other planets is declining as astronomy science advances and space exploration continues and, yet, not the slightest trace of such aliens is found. All hope is not lost, however, and mankind will eventually know the answer to those burning question: "Are other planets inhabited?" and "Are there aliens out there?"
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Last Updated: July 2, 2008
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