Life promising on an infinity of moons
It is generally believed that water is essential to life as we know it. And, because traces of water have been found on Mars, Jupiter, Uranus and Neptune, there’s a remote chance of something living on those planets. But, over the past decade, astronomers have found traces of water on planets (exoplanets) orbiting distant stars in the Milky Way. Last week, reports emerged of ‘‘watery worlds covered in deep oceans could support alien life’’.
The reports focused on the work of two American astronomers who calculate that there must far more watery exoplanets than had previously been supposed. Their calculations lift the probability of alien life existing out there. But there’s more to it than that – moons. Our solar system has more than 100 moons. Jupiter has 79, Saturn 64, Uranus 27, Neptune 13, and Pluto has five. Could they also support life?
Yes, every chance. Three of Jupiter’s biggest moons have big watery oceans deep under the surface, so they must be well up on the list of potential life-supporting places.
If the billion stars in the Milky Way are like our sun, they must also be orbited by zillions of moons of every conceivable orbit, size, structure, temperature, and chemical makeup.
Beyond the Milky Way are another billion galaxies, each with an inconceivable number of watery moons. Vast numbers of them probably have the prerequisites of life as found on Earth – water and oxygen – so our universe has an infinite number of possible living sites, but not necessarily life as we know it.
Life on these moons could be very different from life on Earth. Instead of water and oxygen, living entities on these moons could consist of silicon, mercury, beryllium, hydrogen… and, who knows? The moons might even support some form of intelligent life.
For the moment, we have no way of communicating with alien intelligences as they’re all light years away. But theoreticians are on the job. Almost every week, scientific journals report advances with quantum entanglement, a process for communicating instantaneously over vast distances. Give us a few decades and we might be talking to intelligent gasses, liquids or crystals on distant moons. ‘‘Hello Moon No. XY@Z5#90d0639.’’
Three of Jupiter’s biggest moons have big watery oceans deep under the surface, so they must be well up on the list of potential lifesupporting places.