By D. Wayne Dworsky
The big problem with finding a habitable planet like Earth is finding a planet satisfying many conditions similar to those on Earth. Those conditions include a wide range of planet functions. We all know that life cannot exist without water and air. However, many creatures can breathe carbon dioxide and exhale oxygen as a waste product, thereby replenishing the oxygen supply for oxygen-breathing creatures like us.
While some bacteria have been known to live in hot springs in Yellowstone National Park, most creatures require a more moderate temperature. Therefore, we can rule out ovens like Venus, whose surface temperatures reach 800- degrees Fahrenheit. Similarly, microbes have been known to live in glacial ice. Again, this is an extreme and it rules out really cold places like the moons of Jupiter and Saturn. The one exception is that under the surface ice on Europa, one of Jupiter’s moons, a liquid ocean could harbor life.
Life, at least on Earth, requires mechanics that would protect it from gamma and other types of rays. Earth possesses a magnetosphere, produced from the molten iron core, which shields living creatures from harmful radiation. Few planets and planetary moons possess it. The one exception is Jupiter, but its magnetosphere is over a hundred times as strong as Earth’s. Not only does a habitable planet need to possess a mechanism to protect living creatures, but it must do so without excessive strength.
Size does matter. Big planets would simply allow life to exist that remained flat against the surface, thereby minimizing the planet’s powerful gravity effect due to its mass. Similarly, very small planets would tend to produce living creatures that could grow quite tall, basically for the opposite reason.
Strangely, it’s only been in the last 20 years that cosmologists and other scientists have even considered the possibility that life could exist elsewhere in the cosmos. It was with the launching of the Hubble Telescope that the real quest for extraterrestrial life began. We must look through the new James Web Telescope planet finder interferometer to seek answers. We will be in for a real treat in 2014 with NASA’s launch of the 21-foot mirror scope with the promise of new discoveries. A full-scale model is currently being displayed in New York City’s Battery Park.
About D. Wayne Dworsky
D. Wayne Dworsky addresses the importance of being informed of Currents in Science & Nature by participating in science & nature book reviews, writing feature articles, aviation and preparing students for State examinations in mathematics and language arts. He’s been reviewing science and nature titles for Sacramento Book Review for the last two years.
In addition to his own literary career, he hosts a radio talk show on Blog Talk Radio’s Alpha Centauri & Beyond . And he writes a blog at his website, Alpha Centauri & Beyond.com. He remains active as an airman and writes articles for American Chronicle.
