Lifeboat Foundation

The only place in the Universe where we know life exists is on Earth. However, with billions of other star systems in the universe, it may not be the best place for life. In a new study, astronomers modeled the potential for life on other watery planets and discovered some conditions that can create oceans that are optimal for habitability.

The model suggests that watery planets with dense atmospheres, continents, and long days — planets that rotate slowly — were the most suitable for life. These conditions increase ocean circulation, which brings nutrients from the depths to the surface, where they can be used by organisms.

Continue reading “Life on Alien Planets Could Be More Diverse Than on Earth” »

Three of the large organic molecules necessary for life to form have been detected around stars at up to 100 times the level predicted by models.

Analysis of unique fingerprints in light emitted from material surrounding young stars has revealed “significant reservoirs” of large organic molecules necessary to form the basis of life, say researchers.

Dr. John Ilee, Research Fellow at the University of Leeds who led the study, says the findings suggest that the basic chemical conditions that resulted in life on Earth could exist more widely across the Galaxy.

The large organic molecules were identified in protoplanetary disks circling newly formed stars. A similar disk would have once surrounded the young Sun, forming the planets that now make up our Solar System. The presence of the molecules is significant because they are “stepping-stones” between simpler carbon-based molecules such as carbon monoxide, found in abundance in space, and more complex molecules that are required to create and sustain life.

Forget about online games that promise you a “whole world” to explore. An international team of researchers has generated an entire virtual universe, and made it freely available on the cloud to everyone.

Uchuu (meaning “outer space” in Japanese) is the largest and most realistic simulation of the universe to date. The Uchuu simulation consists of 2.1 trillion particles in a computational cube an unprecedented 9.63 billion light-years to a side. For comparison, that’s about three-quarters the distance between Earth and the most distant observed galaxies. Uchuu reveals the evolution of the universe on a level of both size and detail inconceivable until now.

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NASA won’t be sending a rover to Saturn’s moon Titan in search of alien fly. It’s sending a Dragonfly.

The huge “dog-boned” asteroid hurling through the solar system has now been imaged in unprecedented detail.

A team of astronomers has seemingly obtained the best pictures and data to date of the peculiar asteroid, Kleopatra. Using the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope (VLT), observers from the SETI Institute in Mountain View, California, and the Laboratoire d’Astrophysique de Marseille, France, captured images to help two teams of scientists answer some interesting questions.

“Kleopatra is truly a unique body in our Solar System,” says Franck Marchis, who led a study on the asteroid published in Astronomy & Astrophysics. “Science makes a lot of progress thanks to the study of weird outliers. I think Kleopatra is one of those and understanding this complex, multiple asteroid system can help us learn more about our Solar System.”

Continue reading “Astronomers take best pictures of Kleopatra’s ‘portrait’” »

The James Webb Space Telescope is scheduled for launch December 18. It will help scientists hunt for alien life on exoplanets and look to the beginning of time.

This tiny piece of rock will help solve one of the biggest mysteries of the universe.

NASA’s Perseverance rover collected its first Martian sample, which will help scientists determine if there is life beyond Earth.

Continue reading “The NASA Mars rover collects something historic” »

Have you missed the SR Academy Webinar with Seth Shostak of the SETI Institute?

Here you can watch the complete video, including the discussion after the lecture:

Continue reading “SR ACADEMY WEBINAR SERIES — SETI-Institute and Art in Residence Program” »