Finding Life Beyond Earth
So I just watched the Nova program Finding Life Beyond Earth. As like most Nova programs, it was fun to watch. No doubt my kids will enjoy the images. I can’t say that there was anything new here, but I try to keep up on science overall. In short it’s getting harder and harder to believe that life is not everywhere in the Universe. Some places it may be are:
And of course some other solar system besides ours. Likely Enceladus will be checked first:
It doesn’t look like much but an ice ball until you see this:
That’s water jets shooting out of the moon. Enceladus could have a liquid ocean under it, heated by the pull of Saturn. These jets also have hydrocarbons in them which raises the possiblity of life in the water. Europa, which is a moon of Jupiter, could well have a similar setup. What makes us want to go to Enceladus first is we don’t have to dig to find out. We just need the right spacecraft to pass into the jets and get a better look at what Enceladus is spitting out into space.
What struck me today is the religious side of this. What is the reaction going to be when we find life somewhere else? If we can find it in our own solar system, it likely a given that it’s just about everywhere. The number of stars that exist is huge. We are finding planets around most of them that we have looked at. It’s only a matter of time. Hopefully in my lifetime.
I guess they will say God made them too. Did Adam have to name them as well? Why would God put them there? Just more hoops for those who believe in God to jump through. It’s too easy being a non-believer sometimes.
The Gaming Atheist 