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Life Origination Beyond Planets
There are several hypotheses of the possibility of life originating in the universe in places other than planets, dated as early as 1774. Suggested locations are within stars, on the surface of stars, as well as in the interstellar space. Life within the Sun The extreme temperatures and radiation of the Sun do not allow biological life to exist in it. In 1965 astronomer Ernst Julius Öpik wrote the article "Is the Sun Habitable?" in which he described that in 1774 Alexander Wilson of Glasgow, remarking that sunspots are apparently lower than the rest of the surface of the Sun, hypothesised that the interior of the Sun is colder than its surface and possibly suitable for life. Wilson suggested that the sunspots he observed were probably "immense excavations in the body of the Sun" (p. 16) considerably beneath the surface of the Sun and they provided a glimpse on the surface below that does not emit much light. Prefacing with many words of caution, he further hypothesises that ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ernst Julius Öpik
Ernst is both a surname and a given name, the German, Dutch, and Scandinavian form of Ernest. Notable people with the name include: Surname * Adolf Ernst (1832–1899) German botanist known by the author abbreviation "Ernst" * Anton Ernst (born 1975), South African film producer * Alice Henson Ernst (1880-1980), American writer and historian * Bastian Ernst (born 1987), German politician * Britta Ernst (born 1961), German politician * Cornelia Ernst (born 1956), German politician * Edzard Ernst (born 1948), German-British academic * Emil Ernst (1889–1942), astronomer * Ernie Ernst (1924/25–2013), American judge * Eugen Ernst (1864–1954), German politician * Fabian Ernst (born 1979), German soccer player * Fedir Ernst (1891-1942), Ukrainian art historian * Gustav Ernst (born 1944), Austrian writer * Heinrich Wilhelm Ernst (1812–1865), Moravian violinist and composer * Jim Ernst (born 1942), Canadian politician * Jimmy Ernst (1920–1984), American painter, son of Max Ernst ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nebula
A nebula (; or nebulas) is a distinct luminescent part of interstellar medium, which can consist of ionized, neutral, or molecular hydrogen and also cosmic dust. Nebulae are often star-forming regions, such as in the Pillars of Creation in the Eagle Nebula. In these regions, the formations of gas, dust, and other materials "clump" together to form denser regions, which attract further matter and eventually become dense enough to form stars. The remaining material is then thought to form planets and other planetary system objects. Most nebulae are of vast size; some are hundreds of light-years in diameter. A nebula that is visible to the human eye from Earth would appear larger, but no brighter, from close by. The Orion Nebula, the brightest nebula in the sky and occupying an area twice the angular diameter of the full Moon, can be viewed with the naked eye but was missed by early astronomers. Although denser than the space surrounding them, most nebulae are far less dens ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hypothetical Life Forms
A hypothesis (: hypotheses) is a proposed explanation for a phenomenon. A scientific hypothesis must be based on observations and make a testable and reproducible prediction about reality, in a process beginning with an educated guess or thought. If a hypothesis is repeatedly independently demonstrated by experiment to be true, it becomes a scientific theory. In colloquial usage, the words "hypothesis" and "theory" are often used interchangeably, but this is incorrect in the context of science. A working hypothesis is a provisionally-accepted hypothesis used for the purpose of pursuing further progress in research. Working hypotheses are frequently discarded, and often proposed with knowledge (and warning) that they are incomplete and thus false, with the intent of moving research in at least somewhat the right direction, especially when scientists are stuck on an issue and brainstorming ideas. A different meaning of the term ''hypothesis'' is used in formal logic, to deno ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Panspermia
Panspermia () is the hypothesis that life exists throughout the universe, distributed by space dust, meteoroids, asteroids, comets, and planetoids, as well as by spacecraft carrying unintended contamination by microorganisms,Forward planetary contamination like '' Tersicoccus phoenicis'', that has shown resistance to methods usually used in spacecraft assembly clean rooms: known as directed panspermia. The theory argues that life did not originate on Earth, but instead evolved somewhere else and seeded life as we know it. Panspermia comes in many forms, such as radiopanspermia, lithopanspermia, and directed panspermia. Regardless of its form, the theories generally propose that microbes able to survive in outer space (such as certain types of bacteria or plant spores) can become trapped in debris ejected into space after collisions between planets and small solar system bodies that harbor life. This debris containing the lifeforms is then transported by meteors between bod ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Planetary Chauvinism
Planetary chauvinism is the belief that human society will always be planet-based (even if extended beyond Earth), and overlooks or ignores the potential benefits of space-based living. The idea can be extended to alien society in general, that is, we should expect alien society to be planet based. The coining of the term is often credited to Isaac Asimov, but in an interview with Bill Boggs, Asimov mentions that he heard it from Carl Sagan. The counter-argument is that all the benefits of a planet can be achieved in space, e.g., by an O'Neill cylinder-type structure. An even narrower version of planetary chauvinism is G-star chauvinism. This is the assumption that intelligent life will always evolve in star systems similar to our own, that is, in stars of spectral class G. Carl Sagan criticised this belief on the grounds that intelligent life has a greater chance of evolving on the most long lived stars. That suggests that class-M and class-K stars are more likely candidates ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hypothetical Types Of Biochemistry
Several forms of biochemistry are agreed to be scientifically viable but are not proven to exist at this time. The kinds of life, living organisms currently known on Earth all use carbon compounds for basic structural and metabolism, metabolic functions, water as a solvent, and DNA or RNA to define and control their form. If life exists on other planets or natural satellite, moons it may be chemically similar, though it is also possible that there are organisms with quite different chemistries for instance, involving other classes of carbon compounds, compounds of another element, or another solvent in place of water. The possibility of life-forms being based on "alternative" biochemistries is the topic of an ongoing scientific discussion, informed by what is known about extraterrestrial environments and about the chemical behaviour of various elements and compounds. It is of interest in synthetic biology and is also a science fiction theme, common subject in science fiction. The ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Carbon Chauvinism
Carbon chauvinism is a neologism meant to disparage the assumption that the chemical processes of hypothetical extraterrestrial life must be constructed primarily from carbon (organic compounds) because as far as is known, carbon's chemical and thermodynamic properties render it far superior to all other elements at forming molecules used in living organisms. The expression "carbon chauvinism" is also used to criticize the idea that artificial intelligence cannot in theory be sentient or truly intelligent because the underlying matter is not biological. Furthermore, the term is used by transhumanists to object to the commonly held view that life has an inherently higher moral value than hypothetical artificial consciousness. Concept The term was used as early as 1973, when scientist Carl Sagan described it and other human chauvinisms that limit imagination of possible extraterrestrial life. It suggests that human beings, as carbon-based life forms who have never encountered ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Black Holes In Fiction
Black holes, objects whose gravity is so strong that nothing—including light—can escape them, have been depicted in fiction since at least the pulp era of science fiction, before the term ''black hole'' was coined. A common portrayal at the time was of black holes as hazards to spacefarers, a motif that has also recurred in later works. The concept of black holes became popular in science and fiction alike in the 1960s. Authors quickly seized upon the relativistic effect of gravitational time dilation, whereby time passes more slowly closer to a black hole due to its immense gravitational field. Black holes also became a popular means of space travel in science fiction, especially when the notion of wormholes emerged as a relatively plausible way to achieve faster-than-light travel. In this concept, a black hole is connected to its theoretical opposite, a so-called white hole, and as such acts as a gateway to another point in space which might be very distant from the po ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Encyclopedia Of Science Fiction
''The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction'' (''SFE'') is an English language reference work on science fiction, first published in 1979. It has won the Hugo Award, Hugo, Locus Award, Locus and BSFA Award, British SF Awards. Two print editions appeared in 1979 and 1993. A third, continuously revised, edition was published online from 2011; a change of web host was announced as the launch of a fourth edition in 2021. History First edition The first edition, edited by Peter Nicholls (writer), Peter Nicholls with John Clute, was published by Granada plc, Granada in 1979. It was retitled ''The Science Fiction Encyclopedia'' when published by Doubleday (publisher), Doubleday in the United States. Accompanying its text were numerous black and white photographs illustrating authors, book and magazine covers, film and TV stills, and examples of artists' work. Second edition A second edition, jointly edited by Nicholls and Clute, was published in 1993 by Orbit Books, Orbit in the UK ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Stars In Fiction
Stars outside of the Solar System have been featured as settings in works of fiction since at least the 1600s, though this did not become commonplace until the pulp era of science fiction. Stars themselves are rarely a point of focus in fiction, their most common role being an indirect one as hosts of planetary systems. In stories where stars nevertheless do get specific attention, they play a variety of roles. Their appearance as points of light in the sky is significant in several stories where there are too many, too few, or an unexpected arrangement of them; in fantasy, they often serve as omens. Stars also appear as sources of power, be it the heat and light of their emanating radiation or superpowers. Certain stages of stellar evolution have received particular attention: supernovae, neutron stars, and black holes. Stars being depicted as sentient beings—whether portrayed as supernatural entities, personified in human form, or simply anthropomorphized as having intelligen ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
