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 - By incorporating the physics of black holes into a highly sophisticated model running on a powerful supercomputing system, an international team of scientists has produced an unprecedented simulation of cosmic evolution that verifies and deepens our understanding of relationships between black holes and the galaxies in which they reside. See article.
g Abodes - NASA's Cassini spacecraft has revealed for the first time surface details of Saturn's moon Hyperion, including cup-like craters filled with hydrocarbons that may indicate more widespread presence in our solar system of basic chemicals necessary for life. See http://www.spaceflightnow.com/cassini/070704hydrocarbons.html.
g Message -Here’s a new take on searching for extraterrestrial life: A U.C. Berkeley student is looking for signs of advanced civilizations that have enclosed their home star within a giant sphere at In Search of Dyson Spheres. See http://www.planetary.org/htmlUPDATES
/seti/SETI@home/Update_032304.html.
g Cosmicus - Two NASA spacecraft now have new assignments after successfully completing their missions. Stardust and Deep Impact will now use their flight-proven hardware to make new observations of comets and characterize extrasolar planets. See http://www.astrobio.net/news/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=2388&mode=thread&
order=0&thold=0.
g Learning -Here’s a neat set of lesson plans deeply related to astrobiology: "The World of Bacteria." It’s for high school biology students. See www.ecb.org/guides/pdf/HSBiology03.pdf.
g Imagining -Here’s the indispensable book on science fiction aliens: “Barlowe's Guide to Extraterrestrials: Great Aliens from Science Fiction Literature.” Having been out a few years now, it may not be on your local bookstore’s shelves. See http://www.amazon.com/gp/reader/0894803247/ref=sib_dp_pt/104-0700479-9291112#reader-link for a peek inside the book (and ordering information).
g Aftermath - Quote of the Day: “This discovery … will profoundly change the world." — Frank Drake
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.