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Astrobiology Astrobiology Lesson 8 Discussion Astrobiology in a nutshell A complete course in Astrobiology deals with the following items: - Ancient ideas, Copernican revolu?on, Enlightenment vs religion - Life beyond the Earth, - Life in the solar system vs life in the Universe as a whole. - Fundamental ques?ons concerning the origin and evolu?on of life on Earth and the implicaons for life in the Universe - Where and how do we search for life outside the Earth? - Intelligent Life (SETI) But most important: Why should we be interested in “Life in the Universe?” AOer all, We already know that life exist in the Universe! So what is the big deal? (Actual quote) Well.... • Do we have neighbors? It is interes?ng if somebody lives across the hallway.... • We do not know how life arose on Earth.... • Was it an easy process – and therefore a likely outcome of the condi?ons? • Or was it a difficult process – and therefore unlikely to happen • Astrobiology is a new science – this is how it establish itself? Are we alone in the Universe? The birth of the belief in other worlds “There are infinite worlds both like and unlike this world of ours…with life lika and unlike” Epicurus (c 300 BC) “There are countless suns and countless earths all rotang around their suns in exactly the same way as the seven planets of our system… The countless worlds “… false and damnable …” in the universe are no worse and G.Galiliei (born 1564) no less inhabited than our Earth” Giordano Bruno, 1584 in De L'infinito Universo E Mondi But Aristotele argued that this was NOT the case Today • “Some?mes I think the Universe is full of life and some?mes I do not. Either way is equally amazing” – Arthur C. Clarke • “There must be billions and billions of worlds where life arose. Some?mes I think there is an Encyclopedia Galac?ca out there which we have not yet become part of....” – Carl Sagan This has led to the asking of ‘Big Ques?ons’ like.... “What is the uniqueness of our own Earth?” “Are we (lifeforms) alone?” “What is our past & future?” - The formaon of planets - The evolu?on of planetary systems Cosmic Vision is centered around four Grand Themes: 1. What are the conditions for planet formation and the emergence of life? • From gas and dust to stars and planets • From exo-planets to biomarkers • Life and habitability in the Solar System 2. How does the Solar system work? 3. What are the Fundamental Physical Laws of the Universe? 4. How did the Universe originate and what is it made of? Cosmic Vision is centered around four Grand Themes: 1. What are the conditions for planet formation and the emergence of life? • From gas and dust to stars and planets • From exo-planets to biomarkers • Life and habitability in the Solar System 2. How does the Solar system work? 3. What are the Fundamental Physical Laws of the Universe? 4. How did the Universe originate and what is it made of? First: In-depth analysis of terrestrial planets. Next: Understanding the conditions for star & planet formation, and the origin of life. Later: Census of Earth-sized planets, exploration of Jupiter’s moon Europa. Finally: Image terrestrial exoplanet. The realisaon that for the first ?me in history we can do more than speculate Life beyond the Earth? • There is a great general interest in the ques?on: – Viz. Films, TV, UFO’s, Persistent rumours about Area 51, etc. • But also scien?sts are interested for a number of reasons: – We do not really know how life arose on the Earth – We do not know what the role of life in the Universe is – We do not know many of the evolu?onary stages on Earth • It is clear that the discovery of any kind of life outside the Earth would have an enormous impact Life beyond the Earth? • So what are we going to look for: – The intelligent life portrayed in films like Startrek? Or ourselves? – Giraffes, Platypus or Hamsters? – Simple one cellular life like that inhabi?ng our Earth for most of its history? ~4Gyrs • All of the above – The history of life on our Earth makes that clear. Modeled on our own experience • Caveat: Somehow we will have to address the ques?on that life could be very different (Oblivion) Astrobiology • So Astrobiology is the study of the origin, evolu?on, distribu?on and future of life in the whole Universe • How can it be addressed? – By study the events that took place on the Earth, by searching for signs of life on the planets in the Solar System, by searching in the rest of the Universe – By using cross disciplinary methods including everything from geophysics to SETI Astrobiology is a new science - how does it establish itself? Astrobiology By demonstrang its value to understand life on Earth and its evolu?on By demonstrang how we can understand the past and future evolu?on of the Solar System • By clarifying, eventually, one of the great ques?ons: Are we alone in the Universe? Life beyond the Earth? • But the issues are centered when considering life on the Earth itself and its origin • We do not know when or how life arose on Earth • We know very likle about the evolu?on of life for the first ~ 4 Gyrs • We do not know why aer ~ 4 Gyr we had the “Cambrian Explosion” leading to all phyla that exist on Earth today How can science help us answer the fundamental ques?ons concerning where life comes from and how it is formed? First we consider life on the Earth? • Three important ques?ons: • What is life? • When did life begin on the Earth? • And how did life arise on the Earth? What is life (Clausius, 1865) • Clausius formulated the first two laws of thermodynamics • 1: The energy of the Universe is constant • 2: The entropy (degree of disorder) of the Universe tends to a maximum • Boltzman speculated: “ The general struggle for the existence of animate beings is not a struggle for raw materials, nor for energy, but for negave entropy, available by the transi?on of energy from the hot Sun to the cold Earth What is life Schrödinger’s paradox(1944) • In a world governed by the 2nd law of thermodynamics isolated systems are expected to tend to a state of maximum disorder. • Life approaches and maintains a highly ordered state – does this violate the 2nd Law. A paradox? • Life is not an isolated system è no paradox. Why not? • The increase of order inside an organism is compensated more than enough by the increase in disorder outside this organism. The highly ordered state, is sustained by causing a net increase in disorder in the Universe. • The complexity on Earth caused by life requires energy mostly provided by the Sun and supernova (radioac?vity) è increases entropy more than life diminish it What is life Schrödinger’s paradox(1944) • So we live in close connec?on with the Universe and not separate from it in any way • Later we will see this again when discussing photosyntheses and how this connect life on Earth with the Sun • Is the Universe intended for life? This is a big issue in Cosmology • Parallel Universes with different natural laws (an infinite amount) solve this issue A brief history of life • All life on Earth is probably related and goes back to a “first cell” ~ 4 Gyrs ago • The oldest fossils are probably (the stromatolites) simple one- cellular with no nucleus (~ 3.5 Gyr). Procaryotes • 2 Gyrs cells with a nucleus evolved. Eucaryotes • Mul?cellular life are known from 650 – 542 Myrs ago. The first signs are fossilised tracks of wormlike life • 542 Myr Cambrian explosion (The Burgess shale) • Organisms with shells and (exo-)skeletons appear • First Vertebrates (488-416 Myr ago Ordovicium), Jawless fish A brief history of life • First plants on land not later than 444-416 Myr ago (Silur) • First frogs 416-359 Myr ago (Devon) • First mammals 251-200 Myr ago (Trias) • First primates (end of Cretaceus) 66 Myr ago • Separang from our cousins (Chimpanzees) 7-6 Myr ago • Homo Erectus ~ 1 Myr – 143Kyr ago • Homo Heidelbergiensis (the brightest of the lot), Neanderthalensis, Denisovans 800Kyr – 40 Kyr • Homo Sapiens 200 Kyr - ..... In order to have life, we first need a planet Observations of forming stars demonstrate that this happens in dense clouds of atomic and molecular gas observed in the Milky way and other galaxies Stars, planets and the Interstellar Medium (ISM) Observaons show formaon on both galac?c and intergalac?c scales The Interstellar medium – the cradle of Planets and life(?) As far as we know, life must begin with complex organic molecules Such molecules can form on a planetary surface but also in interstellar space ~ 10% of the (visible) mass of the Galaxy consist of gas and dust between the stars and half of this mass is in molecular form Significant amounts of this gas is found in dense clouds and these are the precursors of stars and planets The Interstellar medium – the cradle of Planets and life(?) Stars and planets thus form embedded in a gas consisting partly of organic molecules – i.e. Molecules built with Carbon atoms Molecules similar to nucleotides, fatty acids, carbohydrates and amino acids è Prebiotic molecules are found all over the universe But processes forming interstellar molecules are different from those occurring on the Earth The Interstellar medium – the cradle of Planets and life(?) Buckminster-Fullerene C60 Crab supernova remnant (1054 A.D.), creating heavy elements, ejecting them into interstellar medium Stars form in clusters • Most molecular clouds contain between 104 and > 106 solar masses of gas.
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