Sunday, January 31, 2010

Coolest ever brown dwarf found and modifying the Drake Equation

Welcome! "Alien Life" tracks the latest discoveries and thoughts in the various elements of the famous Drake Equation. Here's today's news:
g Stars - Astronomers have discovered a brown dwarf that is the coolest sub-stellar body ever found outside our solar system. Astrobiologists study brown dwarfs in order to learn more about stars and star formation. Ultimately, this will help us determine the best places to search for extrasolar planets. See article.
g Message - Should we modify the Drake Equation to account for civilizations which actually engage in deliberate interstellar transmission? See article.
g Cosmicus - In light of the risks, is space exploration really worth it? See article. Note: This article is from 2003.
g Aftermath - In the last quarter of the 20th century, an international social movement — Communication with Extraterrestrial Intelligence — has emerged which advocates an attempt to achieve communication with extraterrestrial intelligence, and many of its most active members have been leading scientists. Modest efforts to detect radio signals from intelligent extraterrestrials already have been made, both under government aegis and privately funded, and the technical means for a more vigorous search have been developed. If a CETI project were successful, linguists would suddenly have one or more utterly alien languages to study, and some consideration of linguistic issues is a necessary preparation for it. See paper.

Get your SF book or manuscript edited


Honoring the Past, Inspiring the Future

No comments: