Search for life

[simonh]

The idea of a Goldilocks Zone is of limited use, we've learned a huge amount since the idea became popular. Back then we didn't know about the biomes supported by ocean floor volcanic vents, or radiation resistant bacteria, or many if the other extremophiles that live in environments on Earth previously considered completely inimical to life.

The core idea that an earth like world requires liquid water and that the 'habitable zone' is the best place to find it in an arbitrary planetary system is sound, but it's not the whole story anymore by a long way. Since then we've discovered a liquid ocean on Europa, geysers indicating pockets of liquid water on Ganymede and a few other possible hideouts for life far outside our solar system's 'habitable zone'.

if your looking for the most likely planets to support Earth like planets and technological civilization the Goldilocks Zone is still a useful rule of thumb, but we've found so many exceptions to the rule in our own solar system that it's no longer the prescriptive limit for life it was once thought to be. On that score it's really not very useful anymore.

Simon Hibbs

[Duinhir]

Hey, guys ( and girls), Please read the first posts.

I was considering MICROBIAL life, something that is actively researched by Viking or Exomars IRL.

search of life (residuous or actual) is serious business for a lot of CNES or NASA exobiologist.

If you want to discuss evolved life, human like, please build a new thread. But that's totally space opera grade science fiction.

 I don't really like the turn this thread takes to be honest.

[Kerbal101]

So.... I have a question. Laythe is the water world, but it does have the oxygen right?

 

So where are the "trees" or who made it?