|
Register | Sign In |
|
QuickSearch
Thread ▼ Details |
Member (Idle past 1405 days) Posts: 20714 From: the other end of the sidewalk Joined: |
|
Thread Info
|
|
|
Author | Topic: LIFE! ... on VENUS ??? | |||||||||||||||||||||||
RAZD Member (Idle past 1405 days) Posts: 20714 From: the other end of the sidewalk Joined: |
I just ran across this article:
Was Venus Alive? 'The Signs are Probably There' (click for full article)
The planet Venus is like Earth in many ways. It has a similar size and mass, it is closer to us than any other planet, and it probably formed from the same sort of materials that formed Earth. For years scientists and science fiction writers dreamed of the exotic jungles and life forms that must inhabit Earth's twin sister. David Grinspoon, a research scientist at the Southwest Research Institute in Boulder, Colorado, writes in his book, "Venus Revealed," that, through the Mariner 2 and other Venus missions, "we found our 'sister planet' to be chemically alien, as well as hot and dry to quite unearthly extremes. With these revelations, the twin-sister imagery quickly disappeared, and the notion that 'Venus is hell' took hold." Only 20 percent of the sunlight that hits Venus makes it through the cloud cover, while the other 80 percent is reflected back into space. This reduced sunlight doesn't make Venus a cold world, however, because the thick carbon dioxide atmosphere traps the planet's heat. This greenhouse effect on Venus is often cited as a nightmare example of what could happen to Earth if we don't get our pollution under control. In an interview, Grinspoon explains how Venus evolved from a wet planet similar to Earth to the scorching hot, dried-out furnace of today. Then he discusses the possibility that Venus was once an inhabited world. .... (page down to) ... The question of life Astrobiology Magazine (AM): You've suggested, in contrast to the conventional view, that Venus may have held onto its water for perhaps as long as 2 billion years. What are the implications for habitability? David Grinspoon (DG): For habitability, there are implications for Venus and there are implications for terrestrial planets in general. Venus almost certainly had liquid water when it was young. So the conditions for the origin of life, as conventionally defined, were satisfied there as much as on Earth and Mars. perhaps the fundies are on the wrong planet ... ? (nudge wink) Enjoy. we are limited in our ability to understand by our ability to understand RebelAAmerican.Zen[Deist
{{{Buddha walks off laughing with joy}}}
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||
RAZD Member (Idle past 1405 days) Posts: 20714 From: the other end of the sidewalk Joined: |
Now we have three possible other places for life to have evolved (or co-evolved?) that can open a lot of interesting questions
Just so long as I don't have to do the field work on Venus ... we are limited in our ability to understand by our ability to understand RebelAAmerican.Zen[Deist
{{{Buddha walks off laughing with joy}}}
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||
RAZD Member (Idle past 1405 days) Posts: 20714 From: the other end of the sidewalk Joined: |
heh.
so far ... venus, mars and europa ... plus earth of course. unless you are looking for intelligent life, in which case try seti for the nearest one ...
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||
RAZD Member (Idle past 1405 days) Posts: 20714 From: the other end of the sidewalk Joined: |
quite right you are.
Mars is somewhat temperate compared to Venus, I think you get the understatement of the year award here. and we are not even discussing the Sulfuric acid problem ... like I said -- I wouldn't want to do the field work. we are limited in our ability to understand by our ability to understand RebelAAmerican.Zen[Deist
{{{Buddha walks off laughing with joy}}}
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||
RAZD Member (Idle past 1405 days) Posts: 20714 From: the other end of the sidewalk Joined: |
as far as I know these ones are listed as possible due to the presence of water.
the hydrocarbons in a nitrogen/methane atmosphere would definitely be an alien brew. there would need to be energy available and a concentrating medium (one of the things water does) we are limited in our ability to understand by our ability to understand RebelAAmerican.Zen[Deist
{{{Buddha walks off laughing with joy}}}
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||
RAZD Member (Idle past 1405 days) Posts: 20714 From: the other end of the sidewalk Joined: |
Liquid methane and ammonia have been talked about in science fiction for some time. The problem is to see how they can work similar to water or to envisage a different system -- the "we are limited in our ability to understand by our ability to understand" problem.
The presence of hydrocarbons in outer space (detected at great distance even, so they were around when the solar system was forming) is now well known, more being added all the time. This means that they were probably accumulating on all the planets. I wouldn't rule it out, but they don't have the home team advantage. we are limited in our ability to understand by our ability to understand RebelAAmerican.Zen[Deist
{{{Buddha walks off laughing with joy}}}
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||
RAZD Member (Idle past 1405 days) Posts: 20714 From: the other end of the sidewalk Joined: |
ever try to find the bottom of a lake with deep silty bottom? I think it's quite possible that there is no real "horizon" between "atmosphere" and "crust\mantle" as the density could increase until distinquishing what was which is impossible - even if there is a core of elements similar to those on earth. The only way for there to be a discontinuity is for there to be either (1) a change in material (like here) or (2) a change in phase of the material, a sudden collapse of molecules into a new form not known here.
we are limited in our ability to understand by our ability to understand RebelAAmerican.Zen[Deist
{{{Buddha walks off laughing with joy}}}
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||
RAZD Member (Idle past 1405 days) Posts: 20714 From: the other end of the sidewalk Joined: |
essentially the same all the way down, or are there definite changes as you get deeper? not a clue. I haven't been there yet.
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||
RAZD Member (Idle past 1405 days) Posts: 20714 From: the other end of the sidewalk Joined: |
yes, but lost communication shortly after entry. they should try one that relaunches a "message bottle" back
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||
RAZD Member (Idle past 1405 days) Posts: 20714 From: the other end of the sidewalk Joined: |
could be a booster or just a return data carrier, getting high enough to send.
the have been thoughts to use something more like a helium balloon rather than a parachut to stay high longer. I think they need a slow "descent into the maelstrom" we are limited in our ability to understand by our ability to understand RebelAAmerican.Zen[Deist
{{{Buddha walks off laughing with joy}}}
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||
RAZD Member (Idle past 1405 days) Posts: 20714 From: the other end of the sidewalk Joined: |
Go down the Red Spot? May not be representative ...
ps NASA sites good advice. NASA we are limited in our ability to understand by our ability to understand RebelAAmerican.Zen[Deist
{{{Buddha walks off laughing with joy}}}
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||
RAZD Member (Idle past 1405 days) Posts: 20714 From: the other end of the sidewalk Joined: |
yes, never heard much about it after that, what facts they gleaned from the event (especially that they hadn't already learned from Schumacher-Levy)
we are limited in our ability to understand by our ability to understand RebelAAmerican.Zen[Deist
{{{Buddha walks off laughing with joy}}}
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||
RAZD Member (Idle past 1405 days) Posts: 20714 From: the other end of the sidewalk Joined: |
Do you think it is possible for life to evolve in the atmosphere of jupiter and how would it be detected?
Would it be a large red colony of methane cloud bacteria? we are limited in our ability to understand by our ability to understand RebelAAmerican.Zen[Deist
{{{Buddha walks off laughing with joy}}} |
|||||||||||||||||||||||
RAZD Member (Idle past 1405 days) Posts: 20714 From: the other end of the sidewalk Joined: |
What we need is to drop more probes. And to build an O'neil cylinder. to put O'Neil in? that would solve a lot of problems ...
|
|
|
Do Nothing Button
Copyright 2001-2023 by EvC Forum, All Rights Reserved
Version 4.2
Innovative software from Qwixotic © 2024