Welcome Guest [Log In] [Register]
Welcome to The Biggest Board. We hope you enjoy your visit.


You're currently viewing our forum as a guest. This means you are limited to certain areas of the board and there are some features you can't use. If you join our community, you'll be able to access member-only sections, and use many member-only features such as customizing your profile, sending personal messages, and voting in polls. Registration is simple, fast, and completely free.


Join our community!


If you're already a member please log in to your account to access all of our features:

Username:   Password:
Add Reply
Life on earth is just so, like, random
Topic Started: Feb 13 2009, 06:32 AM (56 Views)
Warren
Administrator
[ *  *  *  *  * ]
Life on earth is just so, like, random

WHY are we here? It is a question people have probably pondered since the dawn of humanity.

But scientists are now asking a slightly different question. Why are we here on this world, circling our star, the sun?

After a year conducting what is thought to have been the biggest study of its kind into what makes the sun so special it is the only known host of life, Australian National University researchers have come up with a result that many may find troubling.

The answer, Charley Lineweaver, from the Planetary Science Institute of the Australian National University said yesterday, is nothing.

After comparing 11 characteristics of the sun with hundreds of billions of other stars in our Milky Way galaxy, Dr Lineweaver concluded: "The sun is more ordinary than it should be."

The implication was clear: "Life could well be around any star … anywhere."

Eight researchers, led by Dr Lineweaver and PhD researcher Jose Robles, reached their conclusion after comparing factors such as the sun's mass, rotation rate, metal composition, chemistry, age and position in the galaxy with other stars.

"Our hope was to identify something special, a little bit different, about our sun" and find "what makes it the elixir of life", Dr Lineweaver said.

"Something must be special. People used to worship the sun as a god. We all come from the Sun. All the material in the Earth and all the planets come from the sun."

They concluded that the sun is more massive than about 95 per cent of all other Milky Way stars, but that left about 10 billion stars more massive. "That's not special enough," Dr Lineweaver said.

"The upshot," he added, is that earthly life depends on "a random star that was blindly pulled out of the bag."

Whether that was encouraging or discouraging, he said, would depend on individual views.

"Those who are searching for justification for their beliefs that terrestrial life, and humanity in particular, are special will probably interpret this result as a humiliating dethronement.

"Those who believe we are the scum of the universe may find our non-special status uplifting."
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
1 user reading this topic (1 Guest and 0 Anonymous)
« Previous Topic · Post Archives · Next Topic »
Add Reply