• Question: In your own opinion is there intelligent life on other planets that we will meet and it's just a matter of time when we do or is there not?

    Asked by ssell22 to Betul, Bridget, Ceri-Wyn, Laurel, Maria on 19 Jun 2010 in Categories: . This question was also asked by tommyboy, kbanham.
    • Photo: Ceri-Wyn Thomas

      Ceri-Wyn Thomas answered on 18 Jun 2010:

      Hmmm, well I’ve always thought we might see bacterial life on other planets since we find many species of bacteria in the most extreme environments on our own planet. As for sentient or intelligent life- I’m not sure. If there are enough planets out there with optimum conditions for life then it’s just a matter of probability as to whether life will exist on them.

      I’m not sure that we would meet intelligent alien species in our life time since they will experience the same physical challenges as us in terms of space travel. The vast distances between planets and galaxies means you would need to travel close to the speed of light to cover them in any sensible timeframe- but we can not yet build craft that could safely carry us at those speeds and alien races, no matter how advanced, would still be bound by the speed limit of lightspeed- nothing can travel faster than that!

    • Photo: Bridget Waller

      Bridget Waller answered on 18 Jun 2010:

      If we develop super fast travel…maybe we will 🙂

    • Photo: Laurel Fogarty

      Laurel Fogarty answered on 19 Jun 2010:

      I think given the size of the universe there is almost definitely life on another planet somewhere. Whether it is intelligent enough to come and find us I don’t know (probably not!!)

      There are proper scientists who study this. They have an equation called the Drake equation to work out how likely it is that we will meet alien life. The equation takes all these things into account:

      the average rate of star formation per year in our galaxy

      the fraction of those stars that have planets

      the average number of planets that can potentially support life

      the fraction of the above that actually go on to develop life at some point

      the fraction of the above that actually go on to develop intelligent life

      the fraction of civilizations that develop a technology that releases detectable signs of their existence into space

      the length of time such civilizations release detectable signals into space…phew!

      When you put them altogether the likelihood of life is high but the likelihood of meeting it is very low!

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