Philae's comet may host alien 'life'
(http://l1.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/d4guRq_lBYNKWCmVAvb1nA--/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7Zmk9ZmlsbDtoPTU2MDtpbD1wbGFuZTtweW9mZj0wO3E9NzU7dz05NjA-/http://media.zenfs.com/en_us/News/afp.com/4398b87dccd95418950dec89516d57b120fd1705.jpg)
Astronomers proposed a novel explanation Monday for the strange appearance of the comet carrying Europe's robot probe Philae through outer space: alien microscopic life.
Many of the frozen dust ball's features, which include a black crust over lakes of ice, flat-bottomed craters and mega-boulders scattered on the surface, were "consistent" with the presence of microbes, they said.
Observations by the European Space Agency's Rosetta comet orbiter has shown that 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko "is not to be seen as a deep-frozen inactive body, but supports geological processes," Max Wallis of the University of Cardiff said in a statement issued by the Royal Astronomical Society (RAS).
In fact, the comet racing towards the Sun at a speed of 32.9 kilometres (20.4 miles) per second, "could be more hospitable to micro-life than our Arctic and Antarctic regions."
Wallis and his colleague Chandra Wickramasinghe of the Buckingham Centre for Astrobiology, presented their theory Monday to a meeting of the RAS in Llandudno, Wales.
They pointed to Rosetta's detection of complex organic material, which gave the comet its surprisingly super-dark and low-reflecting surface, as "evidence for life."
(http://l3.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/NPIfmj_iMQRGPPo5JR830g--/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7Zmk9ZmlsbDtoPTU0MDtpbD1wbGFuZTtweW9mZj0wO3E9NzU7dz05NjA-/http://media.zenfs.com/en_us/News/afp.com/Part-REF-DM-Par8198254-1-1-0.jpg)
Furthermore, Wickramasinghe told AFP that 67P's gas ejections started "at distances from the Sun too far away to trigger surface sublimation".
This implied that micro-organisms under the comet's surface had been "building pockets of high pressure gases that crack overlying ice and vent organic particles," he said by email.
Wickramasinghe also cited a rugged surface with evidence of re-sealed cracks and displaced boulders, and a covering of organics which "need to be resupplied".
The observed features "are all consistent with a mixture of ice and organic material that consolidate under the Sun's warming during the comet's orbiting in space, when active micro-organisms can be supported," said the statement.
Micro-organisms could use liquid water to colonise the comet -- infiltrating cracks in the ice and "snow" during warmer periods when the cosmic wanderer is nearer the Sun, the duo said.
"Organisms containing anti-freeze salts are particularly good at adapting to these conditions and some could be active at temperatures as low as minus 40 degrees Celsius (minus 40 degrees Fahrenheit)."
Sunlit areas of the comet already approached this temperature last September, when it was about 500 million kilometres (310 million miles) from the Sun, and emitting weak jets of gas.
Comets follow elliptical orbits around the Sun, and warm as they draw closer, causing a process of solid-to-gas transformation called sublimation, which is what gives them their spectacular tails.
As 67P approaches its closest point to the Sun, about 185 million km on August 13, "the micro-organisms should become increasingly active," the pair speculated.
And hopefully Rosetta and Philae will catch some of the action live.
Comets are frozen balls of dust and ice left over from the Solar System's formation some 4.6 billion years ago, and scientists hope that unravelling their makeup may provide insights into Earth's own creation.
One theory is that they smashed into our infant planet, providing it with precious water and the chemical building blocks for life.
http://news.yahoo.com/philaes-comet-may-host-alien-life-astronomers-135219939.html
This Thread seems to be linked to this one.
http://www.thelivingmoon.com/forum/index.php?topic=8376.msg115310#msg115310
Should come as no surprise considering they have found life, in some way shape or form, practically everywhere they have looked for it.
Quote from: Ellirium113 on July 06, 2015, 10:32:49 PM
Should come as no surprise considering they have found life, in some way shape or form, practically everywhere they have looked for it.
I'm working on a research proposal. Even the isotope ratios in meteorites suggest life. ;)
Here we go again...
Scientists Shoot Down Claim That Alien Life May Be on Comet(https://timedotcom.files.wordpress.com/2015/07/67p-churyumov-gerasimenko.jpg)
QuoteThe findings did not hold up to scientific scrutiny
Scientists have picked holes in a widely-reported presentation by researchers claiming microbial life may exist on the comet now home to the Philae lander.
The claim originated in a presentation before the Royal Astronomical Society, in which researchers said the makeup of the comet, 67/P Churyumov-Gerasimenko, suggested the presence of living organisms. The scientists argued that data from Rosetta, the European Space Agency probe orbiting the comet, showed the capacity for micro-organisms to eke out life beneath the comet's black crust.
But the findings did not hold up to scientific scrutiny. For example, the researchers suggested that the comet's deep black crust suggests that it may be partly made of hydrocarbons—the basic molecules of life. That's a possible explanation, but many black surfaces, like a lava field for instance, don't necessarily suggest life.
Researchers also cited "viral particles" as evidence of life on the comet. It is indeed possible to detect both entire viruses and mere molecular bits of them with the aid of either electron microscopy or RNA analysis. But Rosetta, which is equipped with none of the necessary hardware and never comes within several kilometers of the comet, is not in any way capable of doing that work.
http://time.com/3947237/philae-microbial-alien-life/
IMHO, finding alien life, if any, on off-earth bodies will not necessarily require a "microscope"! If it is to be found, it will be there/is there for all to see. The researchers need to get out of the mode of their microscopic thinking, and start looking for potential examples of life/proof of life in the various high resolution digital photographs of areas of other planetary type bodies in our own solar system! ........................but then, there may be no research funds available for any serious research for actual alien humanoid/animaloid life, but rather just for microscopic life?? :)
Quote from: rdunk on July 09, 2015, 10:26:33 PM
IMHO, finding alien life, if any, on off-earth bodies will not necessarily require a "microscope"! If it is to be found, it will be there/is there for all to see.
Be careful what you wish for :P
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N1EBAn6Lpu8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N1EBAn6Lpu8
QuoteThe researchers need to get out of the mode of their microscopic thinking, and start looking for potential examples of life/proof of life in the various high resolution digital photographs of areas of other planetary type bodies in our own solar system! ........................but then, there may be no research funds available for any serious research for actual alien humanoid/animaloid life, but rather just for microscopic life?? :)
Any serious research looking for real aliens would stir up the pot too much... even looking for microbes meets with vehement denial and counter attacks.
Is it that they don't WANT to find it? or they have been ordered not to find it :D
The majority of people, scientists included, are still uber religious... finding life 'out there' would just upset their apple carts
I was going thur the channels earlier hoping to find when the rain would stop
(another inch today so far) when I came across an old movie
1953 to be exact 62 years old.. it was called
IT Came From Outer Space..
.wow I had to laugh not much has changed in the 'aliens' topic ..folks are still what they were then
but dang those cars driving around the Arizona desert were tough...a lot of the old scenery was interesting..
and the 'aliens' were able to fix their ship and escape the towns people but the guy at the end says
they'll be back that we weren't ready...bwhahahahahahahahah
ah no I didn't watch the whole thing..just parts
I guess my observation would be that the whole idea of aliens is stuck back in 1953 story line..
::)
Quote from: space otter on July 10, 2015, 04:54:33 AM
I was going thur the channels earlier hoping to find when the rain would stop
(another inch today so far) when I came across an old movie
1953 to be exact 62 years old.. it was called
IT Came From Outer Space..
I have to add that to my list of old movies to watch on Saturday nights. :)
here ya go ArMaP...en~joy ;D
I put some spaces in the paragraph below so it would be easier to read
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/it-came-from-outer-space/
It Came From Outer Space is one of a handful of science fiction films from the 1950s that plays as well today as it did on its original release, this despite the fact that its original 3-D elements seem to be lost.
It was also the first science fiction effort of director Jack Arnold, and one of three excellent 3-D features that he made (the others were Creature From the Black Lagoon and Revenge of the Creature) during that format's short-lived history.
It was also, along with The Incredible Shrinking Man, one of the two most sophisticated films he ever made in that genre. Additionally, it was Arnold's first opportunity to use the desert setting that seemed to inspire him in some of his best subsequent movies.
Based on a story by Ray Bradbury, the movie starts off in a gentle, lyrical mode, almost reminiscent of +Our Town, as the narrator introduces the tiny Arizona town where the action will take place. Writer John Putnam (Richard Carlson), a new arrival to the town and an amateur astronomer, is looking at the skies with his fiancée, schoolteacher Ellen Fields (Barbara Rush), when they see what looks like a huge meteor crash into the desert.
Putnam and Ellen go to the site of the crash and find a huge crater. When he goes down inside, Putnam sees what is very obviously some kind of vehicle or device embedded in the ground, but before he can show it to anyone, a rock slide buries what he saw. He reports that a spacecraft of some kind is buried there and is duly ridiculed by the local press and some of his own colleagues in the astronomical community, and even Ellen has her doubts.
The local sheriff, Matt Warren (Charles Drake), is downright hostile because he believes that Putnam is not only an interloper, but has also taken Ellen away from him. Putnam is at a loss as to what to do, and doing something -- or, perhaps, not doing anything -- becomes a critical matter when various townspeople start to disappear, including Ellen, to be replaced by alien "duplicates." A small but significant part of this action is told from the standpoint of the aliens, who are only glimpsed in brief flashes as they move through the desert and the underground caves where they are hiding. Putnam ultimately comes to understand that the aliens are actually benign and only need time to repair their ship and leave; but by then, the sheriff and the rest of the town have started taking his original warning seriously and their intervention threatens the lives of everyone.
Reason and a peaceful approach prevail, but only just barely, and the space travelers are allowed to go on their way -- in return, they restore the real townspeople. The movie ends on a hopeful note as Putnam predicts that someday, when we're ready here on Earth, the visitors will be back to make formal, peaceful introductions. ... More
Rating: G (violence)
Genre: Horror, Mystery & Suspense, Classics, Science Fiction & Fantasy
Directed By: Jack Arnold
Written By: Harry Essex, Harry J. Essex
In Theaters: Oct 23, 1953 Wide
On DVD: May 21, 2002
Runtime: 2 hr.
Universal Pictures
.....................
you can watch it here
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xm7xn9_it-came-from-outerspace_shortfilms
Thanks. :)