Looking For Life on Other Worlds

This was SUCH a good article. So easy to read and understand, and so very interesting! I hope Chowk continues to features articles like this.

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Salman Sahib,

I commend you for writing such an informative article on a subject, that so far has not found too much interest in the general public of the subcontinent. Hopefully you will continue to share you knowledge with us in future.

Regarding the futile search for alien life so far, I believe, it is still to early to give up hope. Considering the vast distances between stars and the short time that humans have been paying attention to this area, it would have been surprising if we had found something. It like a bunch of ants on a remote island in the middle of the ocean wondering if there are other ants in the world. In fact they would have a better chance at finding out.

However as you pointed the ingrediants to produce life are so common and the number of star and their planets is so huge that the odds that there is life out there are astronomical. Finding them out or communicating with them however is another matter. Until we come up with a way to travel many times the speed of light, it will remain a dream and science fiction.

Thanks for a very good article on a fascinating subject. You have certainly chosen a wonderful field (astronomy, and that mixed with biology thus giving it a human touch) for a career. Two question: (a) Any news on the SETI project? are they still as eagerly and hopefully trying to find new life as they were some years back? (b) You seem focussed on the Solar system. But once we multiply this by a factor of a few billions times a few billions (the number of stars in the known universe), wouldnt it be very odd indeed if we were indeed the only planet with a life in the universe?
Finally, one bogus question: Any signs of intelligent life on earth yet?

Correction: it is the Drake Equation not the Hoyle Equation:
``
N = R* fp ne fl fi fc L

where,

N = The number of communicative civilizations
R* = The rate of formation of suitable stars (stars such as our Sun)
fp = The fraction of those stars with planets. (Current evidence indicates that planetary systems may be common for stars like the Sun.)
ne = The number of Earth-like worlds per planetary system
fl = The fraction of those Earth-like planets where life actually develops
fi = The fraction of life sites where intelligence develops
fc = The fraction of communicative planets (those on which electromagnetic communications technology develops)
L = The ``lifetime`` of communicating civilizations
Frank Drake`s own current solution to the Drake Equation estimates 10,000 communicative civilizations in the Milky Way. Dr. Drake, who serves on the SETI League`s advisory board, has personally endorsed SETI`s planned all-sky survey.

(from QST, August 1995, page 38)``

``Praise be to Allah, Rabb of the WORLDS`` (Quran: 1:1)

Here Allah clearly tells us that He is the Rabb (Creator, Sustainer, Lord etc.) of the `alameen--notice the PLURAL in the Arabic (`alameen = plural of `alam). Thus if science finds life--even intelligent life on other worlds--what is the big deal? Muslims wont be surprised!

The great Sufi of Andalusia, Muhyuddin Ibn Arabi--may his secret be sanctified!--describes worlds and other civilisations which he visited spiritually in his work al Futuhat al Makkiyahh! He lived in the 12th/13th century!

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From a scientific point of view I was very interested--obsessed even!--with the SETI projects as a teenager and read extensively on it. Carl Sagan was THE authority...see his books such as Cosmos, Pale Blue Dot and his brilliant novel Contact. Fred Hoyle is another...

There is the famous Hoyle Equation....which puts the possible number of intelligent civilisations with advanced technologies at anything between 1 to tens of millions! It is a probabilistic equation which depends on many factors..

Then again the well-known paradox by -can`t remember!--that if they are out there--then why aren`t they here already.? exists. Of course the speed of light limiting factor for travel may well be a major factor here (though the latest research in cosmology has questioned this most fundamental of scientifically received wisdom!!) ...

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Most people in the Subcontinent have more important things to worry about than (possible) Little Green Men..like where is my next meal going to come from...

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As an aside...the MMA is doing surprisingly well in these elections! (hurrah!) I think most ppl on Chowk are going to be shocked at this.

Allahu Akbar! :-)

Mawlana Noorani for PM?...

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Whatever happened to `the world was created in six days`? Sigh.

The problem isn`t finding ``life``, because I am pretty sure life in some form exists somewhere in the Solar system/Galaxy or Universe, it`s finding Intelligent life.

Personally I find it hard enough to find intelligent life on Earth lol..

Layman #8 Six days? Actually, as we used to say in college, God goofed off for 5 days, and then pulled an allnighter. Took him only one night. And of course the Big Bang occurred in a split second and created the entire universe in that split second (and this is not some stupid religious nut, but science speaking). Took God a split second! (``And God said `Be`. And it was``, as the Quran puts it when describing the Creation).

...let`s first find intelligent life on earth, then we can worry about finding intelligent life elsewhere...

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Dear Salman,

Lovely little article, mate.

Dear Asif and Layman,

I can`t speak on behalf of other religions but yaum in Arabic means ages as well as days so it all depends on interpretation. But how many times have we heard Muslims quote Humans as Ashraf-ul-makhluqaat (the greatest of the creations or something to that effect) and use it to mean that there is no life anywhere else? As far as life on other terrains is concerned, it is, so far, an act of faith. Strangly enough, people who refuse to believe in God (because they can`t see him/her/it) also happen to believe in Aliens and they seem to use science to confirm their beliefs. Strange that?

But moving on, no modern day Muslim would have ever even hinted towards using the `Lord of the worlds` line to denote ET. life hadn`t it been for the media push.

Umer M.

Mr. Hameed

First of all thank you for writing this article - a nice change from the meaningless political chatter.

I think we are limiting ourselves by ascribing life only to DNA based organisms. Life may also exist in the energy form or a rapidly changing unpredictable form between matter and energy. So far all the scietific tools (equipment) that we have developed are just the enhancement of our five senses - for example microscopes and telescopes are an extension of our sense of seeing; headphones, microphones are that of sense of hearing and so on and so forth. We have yet to discover more senses than the 5 that we already have to sense the presence of another life form. I think quantum and sub-particle physics may help in future to develope a sixth sense as our understanding of the relationship between matter and energy will improve. May be at this very moment another race that exists cannot feel our presence because they dont have senses to feel the DNA or matter based life form.

here it comes.. Islam and Science... :rolleyes:. Jeez .. why can`t we just keep things simple. btw, nakshbandi & AAmir - good cut/paste jobs! I didn`t understand a word of `em. That`s why I liked the Mr. Hameed`s article in the 1st place.. it makes sense to ordinary laypeople.

``Despite the outlandish claims of unidentified flying objects (UFOs), humans have yet to detect even a single microscopic organism of extra-terrestrial origin.``

Actually such organisms were announced a few years ago coming from meteors which hit the arctic. And because some UFO claims are outlandish doesnt mean they ALL are. The ``Disclosure Project`` currently is aiming for a congressional hearing on UFO as it has evidence from Presidents to military leaders, radars, video, photos etc.

``Our neighbor Mars provides one of the best places to look for life. Over 3.5 billion years ago Mars had a thick atmosphere and there is ample evidence that water flowed freely on the surface.``

There is significant evidence that Mars was once populated. theorists point to artificial structures on its surface in cydonia.

Umer: The ``mad arab`` who wrote the mystical ``necronomicon`` described alien looking beings from other worlds centuries ago.