Scientists spot 121 giant planets with habitable moons

Scientists spot 121 giant planets with habitable moons

The search for alien life continues as scientists have identified 121 giant planets which could potentially have habitable moons.

Researchers from the University of California, Riverside, and the University of Southern Queensland have published their findings in the Astrophysical Journal.

The moons they spotted are believed to be capable of supporting life, and their work is going to help towards designing a telescope which will scan their atmospheres for biosignatures - the tell-tale signs of life.

click link for article

Certainly a step in the right direction. I always wondered why giant planets that are inhospitable to life could not have moons that could sustain life. The 121 number comes from giant planets that cannot support life that lie within the habitable zone of their suns. So the number is not the number of moons found.

Hopefully, one day soon, we will find intelligent life. If it turns out to be a habitable moon orbiting a gas giant hopefully the Ewoks will be friendly..

I just hope SETI is working alongside with these people.
Sure we can speculate in organic life, but we will never know before we get there.. and that will be far far out in the future.
So if we want to get to the meat in our time.. we most hope for a signal from a advance life form

a reply to: Xcathdra

All I would say about your post (aside from the fact that the research and its conclusions are fascinating in their own right), is that focusing at this stage on the search for intelligence in the universe, would be to put the cart firmly before the beast which pulls it. Might make some kind of sense uphill, but most of the time its a bad idea.

Finding locations where even simple, non-complex life definitely exists, would be a boon at this stage, actually getting a sample for study from somewhere would be mind blowing. Finding a thriving extra terrestrial intelligence at this point in our frankly infinitesimal efforts (when combined with the total amount of data still to gain), would be like discovering the computer chip before the lightbulb!

What a time to be alive!

Have you ever thought about the day you'll wake up and people will tell you they discovered life in other planets?

And then, they'll tell you that life is a common thing in the universe, different types of life.

You'll look up in the sky and you'll know you're not alone.



Just thinking out loud, lol.

Thanks for sharing! S+F

a reply to: Xcathdra

Thanks for posting...if this isn't a positive logical assumption ascertaining there is other "life" out there....I don't know what else would be needed.

I can imagine life looking back from there to us and thinking "Nah..that blue dot is mostly water...likely nothing there"...

We will both be surprised....have a great day...
MS

Sounds like something off of Stargate SG1. I may have watched a little too much of that show. Those Gaul'd remind me of Lampreys from Lake Superior.

Notice the difference between the headline and the opening line of the story.

As usual, they ain't found s#.

nan they are looking for more rocks .
Could be a alien standing right beside them and they pick up the rock next to its foot wile saying this shows tehre was water .

Rocks lol www.youtube.com...

There are several Moons in our solar system which could have life on them. In the search to find life the focus should be in our own backyard.

OP I love reading stuff like this. To me it somewhat validates a reoccurring dream I used to have when I was a young child. I've told this a few times on here but every time I feel it's relevant I just have to share lol.

I can't recall what age but likely it was in the 4-8 years old range. I used to have the same dream all the time. It's one of those that even at 39 years of age I still recall. There are some things I have forgotten I am sure but 2 things simply never leave my mind and maybe it's because I tell it every once in a while.

I recall as a young child viewing what appears to be an alien craft outside of my window. I don't recall seeing any aliens or anything but it is disc shaped. Within that same dream I also remember being on another planet of sorts. One where I can clearly see a larger planet/moon like object. When I see some of these Star War movies or some other SyFy movies it just rings a bell with me. So reading stuff like this leaves me very excited that perhaps it is indeed the moons that can harbor life.

originally posted by: lostbook
There are several Moons in our solar system which could have life on them. In the search to find life the focus should be in our own backyard.

We already know about them and we're already planning on investigating them. Does that mean we can't look elsewhere as well? It's not like Europa has city lights. It might have some critters in its ocean, but it (and every other moon in our solar system) is not exactly habitable to humanity. THAT'S what we should be looking for, an Earth analog. NOTHING is more important than that.

originally posted by: schuyler

originally posted by: lostbook
There are several Moons in our solar system which could have life on them. In the search to find life the focus should be in our own backyard.

We already know about them and we're already planning on investigating them. Does that mean we can't look elsewhere as well? It's not like Europa has city lights. It might have some critters in its ocean, but it (and every other moon in our solar system) is not exactly habitable to humanity. THAT'S what we should be looking for, an Earth analog. NOTHING is more important than that.

Ummm...yeah...what he said...


YouSir

a reply to: Xcathdra

I could be wrong, but I think habitable moons that orbit gas giants are probably more common than habitable solo planets (or dual planetary systems) like Earth.

originally posted by: vinifalou
Have you ever thought about the day you'll wake up and people will tell you they discovered life in other planets?

Hasn't happened yet. I'm not on my death bed, but if they're going to do it, they better hurry it up.

I am sorry buddy but your article name is a bit misrepresented. I am a skeptic by nature but this article gave me false hope for a trillionth of a nanosecond.