DailyDirt: Water, Water, Everywhere... In The Universe?

from the urls-we-dig-up dept

Tue, Jan 28th 2014 5:00pm — Michael Ho

Water is an essential substance for life (as we know it), so it's not too surprising that as we look for evidence of extraterrestrial life, we often start by looking for signs of water. (We also look for water on places like the moon because locations near water/ice would be nice if we ever want to build a lunar base.) Here are just a few links on finding water in our solar system and beyond.

NASA has released its tentative plans for the next 30 years, and its goals are to answer 3 questions: Are we alone? How did we get here? And how does the universe work? Upcoming telescopes will be looking for exoplanets and may be able to detect atmospheres on distant worlds. [url]
Stardust is mostly made up of silicates floating in space, and when these dust particles encounter solar wind (charged hydrogen ions), water can form from these interplanetary dust particles. Assuming similar stardust exists in other star systems, water and the basic ingredients for life as we know it might exist throughout the universe. [url]
The Herschel space observatory has detected water spewing from the dwarf planet Ceres (located in the asteroid belt between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter). The European Space Agency (ESA) reports that Ceres has a very thin water vapor atmosphere, and this is evidence of an icy surface. NASA's Dawn mission is scheduled to visit Ceres in 2015, so we might get a closer look in the near future. [url]

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Filed Under: astrobiology, ceres, et, extraterrestrial life, herschel telescope, interplanetary dust particles, space, stardust, water
Companies: esa, nasa

8 Comments

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Anonymous Coward, 28 Jan 2014 @ 5:29pm

ARE WE ALONG - well I am
"Charged Hydrogen ion" and Ion is a charged particle, so by definition charged hydrogen are hydrogen ions, and hydrogen ions are charged hydrogen,

where did we come from? where we are now.

you saying science does not know "how the universe works".
NASA and the rest of science for all of history have been asking that question, and you expect NASA to provide definitive answers to those questions ? in the next 30 years..

Yea right..
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editor-b, 29 Jan 2014 @ 2:18am

Indeed, is there fossils or life elsewhere? But, isn�t the emergence and maintenance of life a process of radical contingency? That is, is a unique and unrepeatable past totally necessary? Or does life emerge through space like mushrooms when some conditions are present? So, how many conditions are necessary: three, four, trillions, infinite? Only one, water or any sort of God? Is God the word that means infinite conditions, absolute necessity? Anyway, how did the life that emerge in a given conditions resist when switching to a different moment? How does life resist time itself, the effects of entropy? But, is it possible for human beings to recognise a simpler life than their own brain only? On the other hand, beyond likeness, is it possible to recognise a complex life than their brain, is this the extra-terrestrial life that some people are searching unsuccessfully? However, is there an origin of life or would it be as finding a cut in the material history of the universe, an infinite void that human language patches now? Along these lines, there is a peculiar book, a short preview in http://goo.gl/rfVqw6 Just another suggestion in order to free-think for a while
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Anonymous Coward, 29 Jan 2014 @ 3:21am

Remember when a few years ago, everyone was saying that Earth is the only planet with water on it...
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Sacredjunk, 29 Jan 2014 @ 3:53am

Re:
These days, the saying is that Earth is the only planet with chocolate on it!!!
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Anonymous Coward, 29 Jan 2014 @ 1:05pm

Re:
no, they have known of water in many planets, in fact MOST planets, astroids, and other bodies, including THE MOON. and Jupitors moons as well. Saturns rings. all water..
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Anonymous Coward, 29 Jan 2014 @ 1:08pm

Re:
"But, is it possible for human beings to recognise a simpler life than their own brain only? "

what, YES, can you recognise that a cat is life???? or an ant ?

"However, is there an origin of life or would it be as finding a cut in the material history of the universe, an infinite void that human language patches now? "

you are just a bit crazy right ? Go back to your infinite void of human language patches, NOW!
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Lawrence D'Oliveiro, 30 Jan 2014 @ 1:47pm

Re: Is God the word that means infinite conditions, absolute necessity?
Or is it just a matter of being proactively results-focused and utilizing agile Creation methodologies, while avoiding the 7 habits of unsuccessful Universes?
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Sigh, 29 Jul 2014 @ 7:28am

No matter what the iau says...
Ceres is an ASTEROID, not a dwarf planet. Mercury and Pluto, on the other hand, are dwarf planets since both of them are smaller than Saturn's moon Titan. (As for that vague region of space between Pluto and Xena/Eris/whatever, how many Kuiper Belt objects are even PLANETS, let alone dwarf planets, is questionable!)
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