375E-410-Extraterrestrial Whales

In an area which is about 1/400th of the entire sky, the NASA Kepler spacecraft has discovered 30 Earth like planets which are likely to have liquid water on their surfaces orbiting distant stars. These planets are likely to represent a tiny sample of the habitable planets which exist in the Milky Way. In spite of our efforts to find them, the question remains where are the alien civilizations? In a recent talk given at the Division of Planetary Sciences meeting Dr. Alan Stern of the Southwest Research Institute suggests that perhaps the majority of worlds with biology and intelligent civilizations exist on interior water ocean worlds where their existence is hidden by the thick layers of rock and ice which separate them from the hostile vacuum of space. We know that in our solar system alone the moon of Jupiter Europa, Saturn's moon Enceladus, and perhaps several other small worlds are likely to have oceans of nutrient rich liquid water covered by a thick layer of rock and ice. We also know that Whales and Dolphins have larger brains than humans, communicate with each other, and exhibit other forms of intelligence. Advanced civilizations existing in ice covered seas may know little of the greater Universe, may find it difficult to consider transporting enough water to travel beyond their worlds, and may not think that it is possible to communicate with others of their kind who are similarly hidden under miles and miles of radiation absorbing ice and rock.

Denne episoden er hentet fra en åpen RSS-feed og er ikke publisert av Podme. Den kan derfor inneholde annonser.

Episoder(1000)

402E-443-Unsung Heroes

In 2017 observers in 50 countries at 440 different observatories made nearly 19 million observations of asteroids and comets which enable scientists to calculate where about 800,000 objects will be in...

18 Aug 2min

912-Boston Bolide

Recently on a Saturday afternoon a loud double booming sound startled residents of Massachusetts and Rhode Island as a large bolide meteor exploded high above. This type of space rock is a message fr...

14 Aug 2min

401E-442-Brian's Debut

During the only 3 clears hours of his first night solo as an asteroid hunter, my new Catalina Sky Survey teammate Brian Africano discovered two new Earth approaching asteroids with our Schmidt Telesco...

11 Aug 2min

911-Comet Brightness Explosion

Comet 220P/McNaught orbits the Sun once every 5.5 years on a path which is between Mars and Jupiter. At that extreme distance, more than 1.5 times the Earth’s distance from the Sun, it still receives ...

7 Aug 2min

400E-441-Carson's Pair

My Catalina Sky Survey teammate Carson Fuls was observing, in the constellation Lynx, with our Schmidt telescope on Mt. Bigelow, Arizona , when within the space of only 35 minutes, he discovered two s...

4 Aug 2min

910-Mega Constellations

In an experiment that will involve all of the residents of planet Earth SpaceX has asked the FCC for permission to launch 1 million satellites into low Earth orbit to create a solar powered data cente...

31 Jul 2min

399E-440-Tracking Elon's Car

Elon Musk decided not to use a traditional mundane concrete block dummy payload for the first launch of the SpaceX Falcon Heavy launch vehicle to test his rockets lifting capabilities. After orbiting ...

28 Jul 2min

909- 2026 JH2

My Catalina Sky Survey teammates Josh Hogan and Alessandra Serrano were asteroid hunting in the constellation of Ursa Major when they discovered a fast moving point of light in the night sky. My team...

24 Jul 2min