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 - Astronomers have determined how far away from its hot stellar neighbors a star must be if a swirling disk of dust around it is to stand a chance of forming planets. See http://www.livescience.
com/space/scienceastronomy/070418_star_dangerzone.html.
g Abodes - The weather and surface conditions of planets outside our Solar System could be detected by constellations of telescopes sent to space, and then used to predict which are most Earthly and likely to harbor life, according to new research. See http://www.space.
com/scienceastronomy/astronomy/extrasolar_weather_010829.
html. Note: This article is from 2001.
g Cosmicus - Research has shown that surface temperatures on the near side of the Moon may provide an accurate record of information concerning the Earth's climate. Consequently, monitoring stations on the Moon could one day help us study our own planet. See http://www.astrobio.net/news/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=2354&mode=thread&
order=0&thold=0.
g Learning -Quote of the Day: “Who could have imagined that our quest to decode the mysteries of the universe, armed with a myriad of artificial senses, would grant us insight into ourselves?” — Neil De Grasse Tyson
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.