Tag: seti

GRBs extinguish life in the Universe

There is a 50% chance that a GRB took place during the last 500 Myr causing one of the major mass extinction events. The probability of a lethal GRB is much larger in the inner Milky Way, making it inhospitable to life. The safest environments for life are the lowest density regions in the outskirts of large galaxies and life can exist in only ~10% of galaxies.

the most plausible explanation of the fermi paradox yet.

First Contact

Addressing a field that has been dominated by astronomers, physicists, engineers, and computer scientists, the contributors to this collection raise questions that may have been overlooked by physical scientists about the ease of establishing meaningful communication with an extraterrestrial intelligence. These scholars are grappling with some of the enormous challenges that will face humanity if an information-rich signal emanating from another world is detected. By drawing on issues at the core of contemporary archaeology and anthropology, we can be much better prepared for contact with an extraterrestrial civilization, should that day ever come.

The goldilocks zone

a 10x larger goldilocks zone in planetary systems will revise everyone’s estimates in the drake equation upwards. “The surfaces of rocky planets and moons that we know of are nothing like Earth. They’re typically cold and barren with no atmosphere or a very thin or even corrosive atmosphere. Going below the surface protects you from a whole host of unpleasant conditions on the surface. So the subsurface habitable zone may turn out to be very important. Earth might even be unusual in having life on the surface.”

Galaxy Full of Planets?

there are 40B earth-like planets in the habitable zone in the galaxy.

2014-12-05:

the number of biotic planets in the Milky Way is between millions and billions, and the corresponding distance to the nearest biotic world is 10-100 light years. the likely distance to the nearest civilizations detectable by SETI is of the order of a few 1000 light years

this is a very accessible paper on the Drake equation (which may well achieve a cultural status similar to e=mc^2 this century)

1% of the stars in the Milky Way could have earth like planets (smaller rock like planets) Another study shows the Milky Way is twice as big as previously thought. So instead 100b stars there could be 200b and of those 1% or 2b could have earth like worlds around sun like stars.