Welcome! “Alien Life” tracks the latest discoveries and thoughts in the various elements of the famous Drake Equation. You may notice that this and future entries are shorter than usual; Career, family and book deal commitments have forced me to cut back some of my projects. Now, here’s today’s news:
g Stars - Recent models indicate that relatively moderate climates could exist on Earth-sized planets in synchronous rotation around red dwarf stars. Investigation of the global water cycle, availability of photosynthetically active radiation in red dwarf sunlight, and the biological implications of stellar flares, which can be frequent for red dwarfs, suggests that higher plant habitability of red dwarf planets may be possible. See http://216.239.51.104/search?q=cache:JF6hML3tGEEJ:www.as.utexas.edu/astronomy/education/
spring02/scalo/heath.pdf+%22Red+Dwarf%22+habitability&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=8&gl=us. Note: This article is from 1998.
g Abodes - Earth's twin, Venus, offers life as we know it few safe places on its faint red-glowing surface, which is hot enough to melt lead. But higher in the clouds, small amounts of water and strange ultraviolet absorbers make for a balmy 107 F abode. The principal investigator for NASA's Planetary Atmospheres and Venus Data Analysis Program speculates about what might surprise Venusian explorers. See http://www.astrobio.net/news/article410.html.
g Life - It’s a question as common as brown dogs: Will alien life be carbon-based? See http://www.space.com/searchforlife/seti_carbon_040415.html. Note: This article is from 2004.
g Cosmicus - Shortly after the loss of shuttle Columbia, Florida Today dispatched its space reporters on a mission not only to cover the accident, but also to examine the future of human spaceflight. Their research demonstrates that grander space goals are achievable at a price that does not require taking resources from other important national and world concerns. In a bold and forward-thinking move, the newspaper proposed a 50-year plan for the human exploration of the solar system. See http://www.floridatoday.com/
columbia/futurespace/spaceflightindex.htm.
g Learning -Quote of the Day: “There are more things in Heaven and Earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy.” — William Shakespeare (“Hamlet”)
The Drake Equation
This formula estimates the number of intelligent civilizations in our galaxy.N=(R*)(Ns)(Fp)(Ne)(Fl)(Fi)(Fc)(L)
Where:- N = Number of civilizations we can communicate with
- R* = Average star formation rate
- Ns = Percentage of stars capable of supporting earth-like planets
- Fp = Percentage of those stars with planets
- Ne = Average umber of planets in those stars' habitable zones
- Fl = Percentage of those planets where life begins
- Fi = Percentage of planets with life where an intelligent species evolves
- Fc = Percentage of those intelligent species that develop communication technology
- L = Average lifetime, in years, of a civilization that develops such technology
About Me
- Rob Bignell
- I'm the owner and chief editor at Inventing Reality Editing Service, which meets the editing and proofreading needs of writers both new and published. For more than two decades, I worked as an award-winning journalist, with half of those years spent as an editor. Several of my short stories in the literary and science fiction genres have been published, and I am the author of the nonfiction “Hikes with Tykes” series, a novel "Windmill", and a collection of poetry, "Love Letters to Sophie's Mom". For seven years I worked as an English teacher or a community college journalism instructor. I hold a master's degree in English and a bachelor's in journalism and English.