Exoplanet Moons May Host Alien Life

[Wyes]

This really isn't news. We've been looking at the moons of Jupiter and Saturn for a while now and considering whether or not they could be hoste to life - why should the moons orbiting exoplanets be any different?

 

[Moonlight Butterfly]

Shouldn't we be starting on the gas giant moons nearest to us first like Europa.

This really isn't news. We've been looking at the moons of Jupiter and Saturn for a while now and considering whether or not they could be hoste to life - why should the moons orbiting exoplanets be any different?

Part of me want them to find life on Europa but then...Giant sea monsters :<

 

[Wyes]

Shouldn't we be starting on the gas giant moons nearest to us first like Europa.

This really isn't news. We've been looking at the moons of Jupiter and Saturn for a while now and considering whether or not they could be hoste to life - why should the moons orbiting exoplanets be any different?

Part of me want them to find life on Europa but then...Giant sea monsters :<

Probably not enough free energy for giant sea monsters, probably only microbial sea life... but that'd still be awesome.

 

[RedDeadFred]

Firstly, this isn't really news.

Secondly, the title really, really needs the world "theoretically" in it. Omitting something like that is a really crass way of getting people to click on the article. If you don't think people are going to be interested in the actual content of your article, an exciting and misleading title isn't the way to deal with this.

Pretty much all of this.

I was genuinely excited by the title but was very disappointed when I saw the tiny article with information that's been known for a long time.

 

[Remus]

Shouldn't we be starting on the gas giant moons nearest to us first like Europa.

This really isn't news. We've been looking at the moons of Jupiter and Saturn for a while now and considering whether or not they could be hoste to life - why should the moons orbiting exoplanets be any different?

Part of me want them to find life on Europa but then...Giant sea monsters :<

Beware of giant black monoliths. They don't respond well to visitors.

 

[Albino Boo]

I would have thought that the gas giants Van Allen belts would have made life unlikely. The radiation would be intense, making life unlikely.

If the atmosphere were comprised of the right stuff to shield from the radiation, such as a thick ionosphere and ozone layer, life would have a chance to start.

Ok the dosage from Earth's Van Allen's belts are around 2500 rem a year. Jupiter's Van Allen's belts are somewhere around 20000 times as strong giving an average exposure per year of 50000000 rem or roughly 1000 rem per minute. To put that figure into context the Hiroshima bomb gave the average exposure of 2500 rem so the atmosphere would have to adsorb the same radiation dose as a small nuke every 2.5 minutes. Now that figure is a little rough and ready and has no allowance for any absorption form Earth's own Van Allen belts. However from those figures its unlikely that any life outside the deep ocean bottoms could exist.

 

[Wyes]

I would have thought that the gas giants Van Allen belts would have made life unlikely. The radiation would be intense, making life unlikely.

If the atmosphere were comprised of the right stuff to shield from the radiation, such as a thick ionosphere and ozone layer, life would have a chance to start.

Ok the dosage from Earth's Van Allen's belts are around 2500 rem a year. Jupiter's Van Allen's belts are somewhere around 20000 times as strong giving an average exposure per year of 50000000 rem or roughly 1000 rem per minute. To put that figure into context the Hiroshima bomb gave the average exposure of 2500 rem so the atmosphere would have to adsorb the same radiation dose as a small nuke every 2.5 minutes. Now that figure is a little rough and ready and has no allowance for any absorption form Earth's own Van Allen belts. However from those figures its unlikely that any life outside the deep ocean bottoms could exist.

Europa has thick ice shell, with potential liquid water oceans underneath. The ice would be more than sufficient to shield from the radiation.

 

[Albino Boo]

Europa has thick ice shell, with potential liquid water oceans underneath. The ice would be more than sufficient to shield from the radiation.

While being perfectly true, the article is about Earth like planets orbiting gas giants which in turn occupy obrits the same distance from the sun that Earth is. Europa is not relevant for the purposes of this discussion.

 

[Farther than stars]

Firstly, this isn't really news.

Secondly, the title really, really needs the world "theoretically" in it. Omitting something like that is a really crass way of getting people to click on the article. If you don't think people are going to be interested in the actual content of your article, an exciting and misleading title isn't the way to deal with this.

Well, either way it wasn't like they were saying that we've found signs of life already and you and I both know that. It's simply not feasible to extract life-indicating molecules from exoplanets anyway. Plus, there are millions of other factors going into forming carbon-based lifeforms, including carbon itself, of which we don't yet know whether other exoplanets planets have that substance. With that in mind, statistically speaking, we would have to find millions of other planets before we even found something resembling complex life (and again, only after space journeys of billions of years).

 

[Farther than stars]

I would have thought that the gas giants Van Allen belts would have made life unlikely. The radiation would be intense, making life unlikely.

If the atmosphere were comprised of the right stuff to shield from the radiation, such as a thick ionosphere and ozone layer, life would have a chance to start.

Ok the dosage from Earth's Van Allen's belts are around 2500 rem a year. Jupiter's Van Allen's belts are somewhere around 20000 times as strong giving an average exposure per year of 50000000 rem or roughly 1000 rem per minute. To put that figure into context the Hiroshima bomb gave the average exposure of 2500 rem so the atmosphere would have to adsorb the same radiation dose as a small nuke every 2.5 minutes. Now that figure is a little rough and ready and has no allowance for any absorption form Earth's own Van Allen belts. However from those figures its unlikely that any life outside the deep ocean bottoms could exist.

But then given the weak anthropic principle, it's highly unlikely that we exist. Personally I think the endeavor to find complex carbon life similar to that of a mamal is fruitless. But after some of the revelations that science has brought to our understanding of reality, I wouldn't be at all surprised if there is a life form out there which can withstand heavy doses of radiation. And considering the point that we're at now, we might as well look in every place we can.

 

[Strazdas]

The only thing I've ever wondered is how the tides of those moons would work with such a gigantic planet affecting them.

they wouldnt. the rise and fall of our tides are created by our moons orbiting and while not unique, is not necessary for water life. (save for some species). there can be a constant tide in one side of the satellite easily.

There is only one moon. that which orbits the earth. all other orbiting bodies are satellites, in this case natural satellites.

Ok the dosage from Earth's Van Allen's belts are around 2500 rem a year. Jupiter's Van Allen's belts are somewhere around 20000 times as strong giving an average exposure per year of 50000000 rem or roughly 1000 rem per minute. To put that figure into context the Hiroshima bomb gave the average exposure of 2500 rem so the atmosphere would have to adsorb the same radiation dose as a small nuke every 2.5 minutes. Now that figure is a little rough and ready and has no allowance for any absorption form Earth's own Van Allen belts. However from those figures its unlikely that any life outside the deep ocean bottoms could exist.

and here we do the mistake, once again, thinking that alien life form has to be in any way similar to eatrths life form. the Van Allen's belt radiation may be as essential part of its ecosystem as suns lift is to ours. it may be pure power for thier bodies for all we know. thats the thing, we dont really know or even can imagone the different forms of life that could exist. we coudl land there, see a rock and think bah its empty, but in reality there may be a very very slow (comapred to what? us? really?) lifeform in there. its just not made out of sacks of meat and blood. The distance from the star isnt even a factor. its a factor for OUR life form. there could very well be a life form whos natural state is, say, -30C and thus would find it "hot" on mars from time to time. (i dont actually know how cold mars is, forgive me). we judge everything by OUR standarts and that is a mistake.