Sun's 'twin' an ideal hunting ground for alien life

Fri, 10/05/2007 - 08:54

Astronomers have found the most Sun-like star yet - they plan to scan it for alien transmissions with the new Allen Telescope Array


Could alien life exist in the form of DNA-shaped dust?

Sun, 09/30/2007 - 09:43

Electrically charged dust forms double helixes that can reproduce and transmit information, a new computer simulation reveals

This concept has fascinated me for a while and I think the above article is very interesting and well-written. Of course, a self-organising double helix is not the same as the holy grail of "intelligent life," as we seem to hope for it, but it's a good start. If anything, computer models such as the one above may help us break out of our humiliatingly anthropocentric view of life having to be bipedal and carbon-based. Without spiralling into another obnoxious Drake vs. Fermi vs. Mulder debate, it seems likely that an examination of extremophiles here on earth suggests that "life finds a way." Many interesting hypotheses sound first like science fiction until years of careful and objective study either prove or disprove them. I feel that this is the strength of astrobiology - and the most important thing is to retain an open mind. Not every flash of light in the sky is going to be little green (or grey) men coming for our ova, and not every double helix is going to be DNA. However sometimes startling discoveries DO occur in science, and I think the importance of astrobiology as a field is to be able to say, "well, life might occur under different circumstances - we just don't know yet."

general welcome

Thu, 09/27/2007 - 09:36

First entry. I'm not the greatest fan of blogs, but I've started this one for a number of reasons. First of all is to jump on the bandwagon of making astronomy accessible to everyone - you don't need $3000 telescopes* or a top-of-the-range dSLR to learn the basics of astronomy and astrophotography. I really feel that so many people are willing to disregard some fascinating and beautiful phenomena just because it seems too "ordinary" (think moonrises and sundogs). Secondly, I'm here to explore my personal near-obsession of astrobiology - a fantastic and fast-growing field which I think is amazing.

My academic background is in environmental and marine biology, and I'm just an amateur in astronomy and photography. I have no authority whatsoever on any of these matters, I'm just a passive observer with a good imagination and a love of the dark. I hope I can produce something which is semi-interesting to both complete beginners and advanced amateurs alike.

(*By the way, I'm British. That was just a test...)


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