• Question: do you think there are aliens liveing in space

    Asked by paper to Simone, Chris on 17 Jun 2011. This question was also asked by willandsasha35646, wearesteve.
    • Photo: Simone Bijvoet

      Simone Bijvoet answered on 13 Jun 2011:

      Hi paper,
      That’s a good one. I know that recently there has been some findings in a special acid lake in the US where they found bacteria with genes that were different than any other thing that has been found on earth so far. I don’t know for sure if I am saying this right (I think the biologists in this zone might be better in understanding and explaining this), but it meant that this would make life possible in totally different environments than our own. This very scientific answer would lead to the idea that it would indeed be possible that other forms of life might exist in space.

      My slightly less scientific answer would be that I actually cannot imagine that we are the only living creatures in the whole universe. Space is so big, so why wouldn’t there be existing other creatures but we just haven’t met them yet (or never will)?

      Hope this answers your question.
      Simone

    • Photo: Christopher Phillips

      Christopher Phillips answered on 17 Jun 2011:

      We live in a galaxy of over 400 BILLION stars 🙂
      That is a lot of cosmic real estate 🙂

      We have discovered over 550 planets in our galaxy, but that is only a small amount in our little neighborhood. Imagine how many planets we will discover in the next few years? 🙂
      It’s crazy! Some of those planets will be too big or too small or too hot or too cold… but we will also find lots of ‘Goldilocks’ planets.. planets that are just the right temperature and distance from their sun that they will be able to support life like ours 🙂
      Our next generation of telescopes will provide the answers to these questions and I can bet you will not be disappointed 😉

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