NATS 1880 Chapter Notes - Chapter 1: Astrobiology, Exoplanet, Planetary Science
25 Feb 2016
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This was when the first extrasolar planet was discovered. Planets orbiting stars other than our sun. Biology: context of life and how it functions, in order to help define life elsewhere, evidence that biology is common: Organic molecules form easily and naturally, and have been found elsewhere in the universe. Life appeared early in history of earth, perhaps within 500 million years of the planet"s formation. Note: earth is about 4. 55 billion years old. Earth life can survive under a wide range of conditions, resilient to the extremophiles. Ancient idea that earth resided at the center of the universe. Mars is the most promising candidate: it is now barren, but once had flowing water, making it reasonable to imagine life there, has significant amounts of water ice. Some of the large moons: jupiter"s moon europa (best candidate) It"s ocean may have more water than all of earth"s combined: ganymede and callisto, saturn moons titan and enceladus, neptune"s moon triton, meteorites.
