CHOO School "Choice"

Research

Subject:

"Is there life on other planets?"

Bukia Sofia and Kurochkina Anna, 3rd grade.

Moscow

2016-2017

INTRODUCTION

Have you ever wondered if there is life on other planets? We noticed that scientists argue a lot on this topic.

We've always wondered if there are aliens.

Relevance

AT modern world life on other planets great importance, because people are interested to know if we have neighbors on the planet.

Objective

Tasks

Objective -

1. Find out the conditions that allow life to arise on the planet.
2. Determine if life is possible on planets solar system.
   

QUESTIONNAIRE

Is there life on other planets?

In order to find out what 3rd grade students know about life on other planets, we decided to conduct a questionnaire. It was attended by 12 people.

To the first question: “What planets of the solar system do you know?” the following answers were received: 7 people answered Earth, 11 people answered Mars, 6 people answered Jupiter, 6 people answered Saturn, 2 people answered Neptune, 4 people answered Venus, 2 people answered Mercury, 1 person answered Pluto. Also, several people responded by erroneously naming the Moon (this is a satellite of the Earth) and the Sun (this is a star)

To the second question: “Do you think life is possible on them?” the majority of opinions were divided - 7 people answered yes, while specifying that on Mars (3 people) or Saturn (1 people), 3 people were undecided, they answered that they did not know and 2 people answered that life on other planets is not possible

To the third question, “How can this life be different from ours?” the features of gravity and the appearance of the inhabitants were named as differences; properties of air and soil - the most popular answer (4 people), as well as special technologies (2 people).

Also, the sample, most of the respondents know the planets of the solar system, they admit the presence of other life there in special climatic conditions. Residents are likely to differ externally using modern technology.

Practical part

Mars - Many people believe that life on Mars is possible. But there are some errors in this statement. After all, to this day, life on Mars has changed. Because under the influence of the atmosphere, life disappeared. But it remains a mystery even to scientists.

Jupiter-life on Jupiter has not been studied and proven to exist. But there are options that microscopic alien life can live on gas clouds.

Saturn - scientists have found that an ocean of salt water is hidden under the frozen surface, which indicates the likelihood of the presence of some kind of life forms.

Uranian scientists believe that other lifeforms in the universe will be made up of the same biochemical building blocks that we are, adjusting their search accordingly. But life could very well be different

Neptune - This planet with a future new life that has a magnetic component. Residents will generate electricity for themselves, as they have electromagnetism.

Venus - life on it is not possible to determine. The pressure on it is very high.

Mercury - Scientists believe that life is possible on other planets with conditions close to Earth.

POPULAR FILMS ABOUT LIFE ON OTHER PLANETS

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Giant black hole

Did you know that there is a planet in our solar system, reserves liquid water on which, most likely, exceed its volumes on our native earth? But this is the main criterion by which scientists have been looking for life on other planets for many years, since on Earth, wherever there is water, there is life. The very name of this planet is very familiar to us, because this is the same Phoenician princess and Zeus's beloved Europe, in whose honor the continent on which most of our readers live is named. And this is the name of one of the 4 largest satellites of Jupiter, which have long been studied by scientists, since they are quite comparable in size to individual planets. Jupiter's moon Europa is the smallest of them and is almost the same diameter as our moon. However, inside Europe, most likely, hides such great amount mysteries that, once discovered, threaten to overturn all human ideas about the universe.

Is life possible on Europa?

For the first time, Galileo Galilei saw Europe in his telescope in 1610. However, this planet attracted real attention to itself only at the end of the 20th century, when it already went to Jupiter spacecraft Galileo. In 1997, he approached this satellite within 200 km, took a series of photographs, and also carried out all the necessary measurements. Since the satellite has a smooth and white surface, scientists have long hypothesized that it is formed from ice, but it was not possible to know for sure before Galileo's flight. The pictures taken by this device were able to confirm this hypothesis, and thanks to them it turned out that the ice on the surface of Europa is relatively young, and there are practically no craters on its surface. This means that under the ice there is a liquid that regularly comes to the surface and fills the cut craters and bumps.

One of the main discoveries made during the flyby of Galileo near Europe was the discovery of cracks on its surface, which in appearance are practically no different from those that can be observed, for example, in the Arctic. These observations could only mean one thing: there are places on Jupiter's moon Europa where surface ice is relatively thin, and as a result of various forces it cracks, and water flows out from under it to the surface. Thus, traces of the vital activity of organisms, if any, on Europa can be found not only if you drill deep under the ice, but even not far from the surface. The growth of such cracks leads to the formation of entire ridges on Europa, towering several hundred meters.

During Galileo's flight around Europa, a magnetic field was also detected, which indicates the presence of a salty ocean inside the planet. According to some estimates, its thickness can reach 100 km, which makes Europe's water reserves truly colossal. Scientists are so interested in this that today several missions to Europe are being developed in the world at once, the purpose of which is to detect signs of life on it, and perhaps the first in history. human civilization aliens. Of these, one of the most promising is the Jupiter Icy Moon Explorer mission, the project of which is currently being developed with the participation of NASA, ESA and Roscosmos. With favorable circumstances, JUICE will reach Europe in 2030, after which it will have to take a series of photographs, as well as conduct a detailed survey of its surface from an altitude of less than 500 km.

The search for life on Ganymede

It is possible that another device developed by scientists in Russia will join the JUICE mission. More precisely, these are two whole devices with the common name "Laplace - P": one of them must explore the vicinity of the Jupiter system, and the second to land on one of its satellites. Only now we are talking not about Europe, but about the satellite Ganymede - the largest among the satellites of Jupiter with a diameter one and a half times larger than that of our Moon. According to many Russian researchers, this satellite is an even better candidate for the search for extraterrestrial life than Europa. It is located at a greater distance from Jupiter, which means it is less susceptible to the destructive effects of radiation emanating from the gas giant. The satellite Ganymede itself is a large icy body, which, due to the influence of gravity and subsurface forces, could well form a liquid ocean no smaller than on Europa. At the same time, there are many other geological sights on the surface of the satellite that scientists would like to study.

Let's hope that the search for life on other planets will not be stopped due to another lack of funding, since discovering the secrets of the Universe, in my humble opinion, is much more useful for humanity than spending money on tanks and aircraft carriers designed to destroy their own kind.

Economist, analyst. He studied at a special gymnasium, then at the Donetsk National
University of Economics and Trade with a degree in Finance. Graduated from magistracy and
graduate school, after which he worked for several years as a researcher in one of the
institutes of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine. At the same time, I received a second
higher education in the specialty "Philosophy and Religious Studies". Prepared for
PhD thesis in economics. I write scientific and journalistic articles with
2010. I am fond of economics, politics, science, religion and many others.

AT last years there has been a lot of discussion in astronomical circles about the search for life on other planets, so much so that a new term has been coined for this research - astrobiology since there is no evidence yet that life exists elsewhere.

Astrobiology is the science of the origin of evolution and the spread of life for which there is as yet no data, or at least no data to support it.

Search for life in the solar system

Since there is no support for the claim that life exists on other planets, great attention is devoted to the search for planetary conditions favorable for life.

Mars has been in the spotlight for a very long time and is now being planned for Martian soil samples. The red planet is about half the size of Earth, and it has at least a thin atmosphere. Water exists on Mars, though probably not in abundance in vapor or solid form. temperature and Atmosphere pressure on Mars is too low to support liquid water.

Exploring the surface of Mars since 1976, the rovers contained three very reliable experiments to detect signs of life. Two experiments did not show any signs of living organisms, the third experiment had weak but ambiguous data. Even the most optimistic seekers of extraterrestrial life agree that these minor positive signs were likely the result of inorganic chemical reactions in the soil. In addition to the terrible cold and the rarity of water, there are other obstacles to life on Mars today. For example, the thin Martian atmosphere does not provide protection from solar ultraviolet radiation, which is lethal to living things.

With these problems, interest in life on Mars has waned, although some hopes still hold and many think that life may have existed on Mars in the past.

Mars exploration

In recent years, the orbiter has detected methane in martian atmosphere. Methane is a gas often produced by living things, although it can also form inorganically. A gamma-ray spectrometer aboard the Mars Odyssey orbiter detected significant amounts of hydrogen in the upper surfaces, likely indicating an abundance of ice. famous Spirit rovers and Opportunity have produced strong evidence that liquid water existed on the surface of Mars. This last point is a confirmation of what we have known for decades: photographs from the orbiter showed numerous features that are best interpreted as having a lot of liquid water on Mars in the past. It is possible that the Red Planet once had a much more substantial atmosphere than it does now, an atmosphere that provided enough pressure and heat to support liquid water.

This holds exciting promise for the pessimists of life on other planets.

• First, scientists have concluded that Mars, a planet without liquid water, once experienced a near global flood, all the while denying that such a thing could happen on earth, a planet with abundant water.
• Second, many people think that earth atmosphere underwent tremendous changes during the flood. It is believed that the Earth has experienced catastrophic changes in its atmosphere.

Please note that in the study of astrobiology, water indicators occupy a prominent place.

As the universal solvent, water is absolutely essential to life, making up the majority of the mass of many organisms. And water is one of the most abundant molecules in the universe. While water has been directly detected throughout the universe (even in outer layers cool stars!), we have never found liquid water anywhere in the universe. Liquid water is the main standard for living things, as it seems that life is impossible without it. However, although water is necessary condition for life, it is far from being a sufficient condition for life - much more is required.

Jupiter exploration

A few years ago, the excitement in the scientific community was caused by the announcement of the possibility of a small ocean of liquid water under the surface of Europa, one of Jupiter's large moons. Most of the cases for this water depend on Europa's surface features - there are large segment fractures that resemble polar ice pack features that result from upwelling of frozen between fractures. Also, if the water were salty, this could explain Jupiter's moon's magnetic field. It has since been suggested that a similar argument was made on Ganymede, another large moon of Jupiter.

Many scientists are now looking at the possible underwater ocean on the Europa moon as the most likely place in the solar system to find life outside of our home. This ocean, if it exists, is very dark and probably very cold. A few decades ago, living organisms in such a place would have been unthinkable. However, scientists have found that organisms live in very hostile environments, such as hydrothermal vents deep in Earth's oceans. In addition, underground lakes exist far below the Antarctic ice sheet. The largest and most famous of them is Lake Vostok, located 4 kilometers under the ice. While we don't know if life exists in these lakes, many scientists want to know. They believe that if life could exist in these terrestrial lakes, why shouldn't life exist inside Jupiter's moon?

The search for life outside the solar system

Whether there is life on other planets outside the solar system has always worried humanity. Therefore, in our time, scientists, astronomers, astrobiologists are constantly looking for the presence of life on other celestial bodies. AT national government Aeronautics and Research outer space(NASA, NASA) have specially developed an astronomical satellite designed to search for planets outside the solar system around other stars, on which the Kepler space telescope is located.

Space telescope "Kepler"

Kepler is an entire space observatory launched by NASA in 2009. The observatory is equipped with an ultrasensitive photometer capable of analyzing signals in the light region of the spectrum and transmitting data to Earth. Due to its high resolution, it is able to distinguish not only exoplanets, but also their satellites with a size of 0.2 the size of the Earth. During operation, there were several emergencies, but it still operates and transmits information. Introduced into a circular heliocentric orbit

A planet similar to Earth where extraterrestrial existence is possible in size is called Kepler 186f. Kepler's discovery 186f confirms that in the area under study there are stars with planets, in addition to our Sun, where life is possible on another planet.
While celestial bodies have previously been found in the habitable zone, they are all at least 40 percent larger than Earth, and life on larger planets is less likely. Kepler-186f is more like Earth.
"The discovery of Kepler 186f represents a significant step towards the search for worlds like our planet Earth," NASA astrophysicists said at the agency's headquarters in Washington. Although the size of Kepler-186f is known, its mass and composition have not yet been determined.

Now we know only one planet where life exists - the Earth.

When we search for life outside of our solar system, we focus on finding celestial bodies with characteristics that are similar to Earth. With whether life exists on another planet will, of course, be revealed in time.

• The planet Kepler-186f is located in the Kepler-186 system, about 500 light-years from Earth in the constellation Cygnus.
• The system is also home to four planetary satellites that orbit a star that is half the size and mass of our Sun.
• The star is classified as an M dwarf or red dwarf, a class of stars that makes up 70% of the stars in the Milky Way galaxy. M dwarfs are the most numerous stars. Likely signs of life in the galaxy could also come from planets orbiting the M dwarf.
• Kepler-186f orbits its star every 130 days and receives one-third of the energy from its star that the Earth receives from the Sun, closer to the edges of the habitable zone.
• On the surface of Kepler-186f, the star's brightness matches that of when our Sun shines about an hour before sunset.

Being in the habitable zone does not mean that we know that this celestial body is habitable. The temperature on the planet is highly dependent on the atmosphere of the planet. Kepler-186f can be seen as cousin Earth having many properties that resemble our planet, not a twin.

This planet's four moons Kepler 186b, Kepler 186c, Kepler 186d, and Kepler-186e revolve around their sun every four, seven, 13, and 22 days, respectively, making them too hot for life.
The next steps to determine if there is life on other planets include measuring them. chemical composition, determining atmospheric conditions, continuing humanity's quest to find truly Earth-like worlds.

findings

For a long time, scientists believed that life on Earth first developed in warm, very hospitable pools and then colonized more difficult environments. Now many people think that life began on the outskirts, in very hostile places, and then migrated in the other direction to better places.

Much of the motivation for this complete reversal of thought stems from the need to find life on other planets. Scientists should welcome the search for extraterrestrial life, although many experiments will continue to give null results, while refuting evolutionary theory origin.

If by the word "man" we mean a certain kind of animal, the kind that Linnaeus called Homo sapiens, that is, a reasonable person, then the question posed in the title can be answered in the most categorical form in the negative.

Such a person, which is found on Earth, cannot exist on other planets. Intelligent beings can be on the planets, but it is absolutely unbelievable that these beings have the structure and appearance of a person. Man on Earth descended from his ape-like ancestors, these ancestors descended from lower apes, apes from semi-monkeys, and so on. Among the ancestors of man, starting with the simplest single-celled animal, or amoeba, we can count a huge number of the most diverse animals. In order for a being resembling a human to appear on the planet, it is necessary that this being in its development pass exactly through the same stages through which the development of man went on earth. If at least one of these countless ancestors differed even slightly from the corresponding human ancestor, then even then the final result of development cannot be a creature that is completely similar to a person.

Even on Earth, where conditions are more or less uniform everywhere, biologists do not admit the possibility of the independent emergence of the same species of animal in two different places on the globe. If the wolf is found in Europe and North America, then not because this animal originated independently in each of these countries, but because the wolf was born from its ancestors in the Old World, and then moved to America along the isthmus that connected Asia with America. Similarly, all races of people, despite the great difference between them in appearance, biologists produce from one human species and from one race, the descendants of which settled throughout the Earth. It is all the more improbable that the same human breed could be produced, on the one hand, on Earth, and, on the other hand, on some planet where life conditions are completely different.

There may be intelligent beings on the planets, but we cannot say anything definite about how they are arranged. Undoubtedly, only that they must have a large accumulation of nervous tissue, i.e., a brain, and, consequently, a large head, otherwise they could not be intelligent. They may have four or two legs, they may also have wings, but they must certainly have organs adapted for grasping, that is, something like our hands. Without such organs, i.e. without hands, the mind of these creatures could not be properly applied and could not develop. As a consequence, the first glimpses of reason would soon die out.

Over time, ideas about the diversity of worlds began to be supported by a theoretical base. Astronomer Francis Drake proposed the famous formula by which one can calculate the number of civilizations with a high level of technological development.

Drake puts the number of such civilizations in the observable universe at ten thousand. However, there are other assumptions. For example, astronomer Carl Sagan believed that only in our galaxy there are a million highly developed civilizations (!). According to the theory of John Oro, one of the first explorers of comets, Milky Way contains no more than a hundred "intelligent" planets. And skeptics argue that the Earth, with its diverse life forms, has no analogues in the world of Cosmos at all.

However, science now knows that a life can exist even without sunlight and photosynthesis. In the early 1990s, researchers discovered in a basalt slab buried deep underground in Washington state that a huge number of microorganisms were completely isolated from outside world. Life discovered in the most incredible conditions, so that its existence, say, on Mars, no longer seems impossible.

Probably not in search history extraterrestrial civilizations more acute topic than the problem life on mars. The history of close study of the Red Planet began in 1877. It was then that the Italian astronomer Giovanni Schiaparelli discovered that the surface of the planet was streaked with lines that he took for channels. The idea of ​​the Italian was picked up by the American astronomer Percival Lovell. In the last years of the 19th century, he announced that the channels he had opened were the work of intelligent martian civilization which surpasses us in development. In his opinion, the construction of a system of engineering structures covering the entire planet testifies to an unattainable level of technology for us, harmonizing the situation on the planet is proof of the high moral character of the Martians. H. G. Wells He slightly altered this idea, depicting the Martians in the novel The War of the Worlds, published in 1898, as bloodthirsty monsters seeking to conquer the Earth.

However, the advent of more powerful telescopes closed the problem of channels - they turned out to be just a figment of the imagination. Until 1960, hopes of discovering life on Mars were associated with another phenomenon - the seasonal darkening of the planet's surface. There was a theory that these are signs of vegetation. Martian forests and steppes receded into the world of myths in 1965, when the space probe Mariner 4 took 22 photographs of the surface of the Red Planet. Mars turned out to be a desert with craters, reminiscent of the moon.

When the Viking 1 and Viking 2 spacecraft reached the Martian surface in 1976, they found no signs of life or traces on the Red Planet. organic molecules. True, the results of the expedition cannot be considered final. “You can land Vikings on Earth and get to a place where there is also no life,” says astronomer Jack Farmer. The whole point, he believes, is to determine the areas of the Martian surface where, with the greatest degree of probability, could be preserved traces of life. One of these places may be the Gusev crater, which was once filled with water.

And yet the absence of visible objects on Mars signs of life predetermined the decline of exobiology (the science of alien life forms), which lasted two decades.
The situation changed in the 90s. Biologists began to find living organisms in such exotic corners of the Earth and in such harsh conditions that this gave a new impetus to the search. life on the planets of the solar system.

It is curious that at the time when life was born on Earth, Mars looked much more hospitable. About 3.8 billion years ago, the Martian climate was warmer and wetter. The red planet was similar to the Earth - it had water reserves and an atmosphere. Evidence that there was once water on Mars has survived to this day. Scientists believe that the Nanedi Vallis canyon, which stretches for a width of almost three kilometers, was once a full-flowing river. It meanders like a river bed and has a branch in the form of a narrow channel through which water once flowed.

Over time, Mars lost its surface water and atmosphere. As the sun got hotter, the habitable zone in our solar system moved further away from the central star. Mars is still within this zone, but its atmosphere, which is only one percent dense as Earth's, cannot hold enough heat to keep water in a liquid state.

However, if rivers flowed on Mars billions of years ago, and maybe the ocean raged, life could well exist there. It can even be assumed that life originated on Mars, and then was transferred to Earth with the help of meteorites.

In 1996, a team of NASA scientists announced that a famous Martian meteorite found in Antarctica, known as ALH84001, had traces of microbial fossils. This discovery was officially announced at a press conference held in Washington on August 7, 1996.

The researchers prepared a spectacular presentation, which showed graphs and sensational photographs of fossils, one of which was shaped like a worm. However, skeptics immediately raised their voices. They referred to the fact that all the facts presented by scientists in proof of organic
fossils, may also indicate their inorganic nature. In addition to everything inside the meteorite, particles were found that had already fallen on Earth.

Everett Gibson, a member of the NASA research team, believes that the arguments of the skeptics are a typical example of the rejection of the revolutionary idea by the scientific community. “Science,” he says, “cannot accept a radical idea overnight. There was a time when scientists did not believe that meteorites could fall from the sky. There was a time when the theory of the tectonic movement of the earth's plates was considered very strange.

Another celestial body, which is associated with hopes for the discovery of traces of life, is Jupiter's moon Europa. Photographs taken by NASA show that the surface of Europa resembles the frozen expanse of the Earth's sea! It is dotted with furrows and cracks. Along with the other three Galilean moons of Jupiter, Europa is bound to this planet by gravity. Scientists speculate that Jupiter's gravitational pull could create enough heat to keep the water under the moon's ice cap from freezing. If, in addition to this, there exists in Europe volcanic activity, the chances of finding signs of life on it increase.

The optimism of exobiologists seeking find life on other planets, is reinforced by the well-known fact that living organisms are composed mainly of hydrogen, nitrogen, carbon and oxygen, and these four reactive elements are the most abundant in the universe. However, the very origin of life, even on Earth, remains a great mystery. How can a set of chemical elements turn into a living entity without outside interference? “There is no such principle that would say that matter should come to life. Humanity has not yet discovered the Life Principle,” says physicist and writer Paul Davis.

Let's assume that life nevertheless arose in several corners of the Universe. The next question will be - how likely is it to evolve to a reasonable level? Some scientists believe that the development of the mind is programmed even in the simplest organisms that can touch environment and look for food. Thus, they argue, if we find an alien entity looking for food, at some point it may evolve into an intelligent being.

It is also interesting to what extent the appearance of living beings from different worlds. How likely is it to encounter an alien with eyes, wings, or a tail? Although reality can mix all the cards: physical and Chemical properties are universal, and it is logical to assume that any intelligent life should repeat the main features of the earth. For example, aliens should have a head, on which (next to the brain) the organs of sight, touch and smell are located in order to perceive light, sound and smells. To maintain and protect the internal organs, alien creatures will need a skeleton, and to move around, limbs. Naturally, this is all just speculation. Nature can be much more inventive than we are.

The scientific community continues to seek confirmation of the idea that we are not alone in the universe. In the near future, NASA plans to build a telescope - the "Earth-like planet finder", which will search for planets similar to the Earth, and examine them for detection. signs of life. In 2008, samples of Martian rock are expected to be delivered from the Red Planet, which will be sent for research to various laboratories. Flights planned for the coming years space probes in the vicinity of Jupiter's moon Europa.

Along with the search for primitive alien organisms, scientists are looking for opportunities to get in touch with highly developed intelligent civilizations. Radio signals are emitted into space, which, moving at the speed of light, have already reached 1,500 stars within a radius of fifty light years. The world-famous SETI (Search for Alien Intelligence) project monitors signals coming from outer space in the hope of picking up an artificial message. Forty years of experiments have not yet brought the long-awaited result, but optimists are sure that receiving a signal from our distant brothers in mind is only a matter of time.

At the very recent times prevailed the idea of ​​the possible existence intelligent life in remote stellar systems, and significantly ahead of the development of terrestrial civilization. It is possible that such a large gap in the level of understanding of the world and knowledge of the laws of nature is the reason for the “radio silence” of our distant “brothers in mind”.

Of course, it is impossible to directly observe the activity of extraterrestrial civilizations because of their great remoteness. However, the consequences of such activity can probably be seen by terrestrial astronomical instruments. At least, the Lithuanian astronomer V. Straizhys adheres to this point of view.

He drew attention to some stars, called "blue stranglers", which are found in different types of stellar communities (hence their name "straglers", which means "wanderers"). These stars, unlike “normal” stars, do not spend their substance on radiation, as if someone is constantly replenishing their “fuel” to maintain acceptable temperature conditions on nearby planets.

Such an operation would be quite within the power of the super-civilization adjacent to this star. Some ordinary stars contain chemical elements in concentrations thousands of times higher than their content in ordinary stars. Moreover, they are located in “spots”, reminiscent of industrial waste dumps. And, finally, special attention of researchers is attracted by stars with a tangible amount of radioactive elements with a half-life of hundreds of thousands of years. How did they get there if the stars are billions of years old? It is quite possible that these are products of the nuclear industry.

Progress in the creation of new means of astronomical research on our planet, including the construction of space observatories, inspires hope that sooner or later clear evidence of the existence of another mind in the Universe will be found.

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