Author Topic: Odd White-Dwarf Star System Harbors a 13-Billion-Year-Old Planet  (Read 631 times)

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Offline DemolitionMan

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The Daily Galaxy

"In the quest for extraterrestrial biological signatures, the first stars we study should be white dwarfs," said Avi Loeb, theorist at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (CfA) and director of the Institute for Theory and Computation. Even dying stars could host planets with life - and if such life exists, we might be able to detect it within the next decade.

"A globular cluster might be the first place in which intelligent life is identified in our galaxy," observed Loeb's collague, Rosanne DiStefano at the CfA in January, 2016. Globular star clusters are extraordinary in almost every way. The globulars, which are found in the halo of a galaxy, contain considerably more stars than the less dense galactic, or open clusters, which are found in the disk. They're densely packed, holding a million stars in a ball only about 100 light-years across on average. They're old, dating back almost to the birth of the Milky Way. And according to new research, they also could be extraordinarily good places to look for space-faring civilizations, according to DiStefano.
 

http://www.dailygalaxy.com/my_weblog/2017/09/the-alien-observatory-white-dwarf-star-system-harbors-a-13-billion-year-old-planet-watch-video.html
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Offline Joe Wooten

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Re: Odd White-Dwarf Star System Harbors a 13-Billion-Year-Old Planet
« Reply #1 on: September 26, 2017, 12:32:16 pm »
I'd think the radiation environment in a globular cluster would be pretty intense. Probably enough to at least prevent manned space flight, if not prevent life from happening anyway.

Offline sneakypete

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Re: Odd White-Dwarf Star System Harbors a 13-Billion-Year-Old Planet
« Reply #2 on: September 26, 2017, 01:40:46 pm »
I'd think the radiation environment in a globular cluster would be pretty intense. Probably enough to at least prevent manned space flight, if not prevent life from happening anyway.

@Joe Wooten

Providing of course we are talking about human life,not life that evolved to thrive in that atmosphere.
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Offline LateForLunch

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Re: Odd White-Dwarf Star System Harbors a 13-Billion-Year-Old Planet
« Reply #3 on: September 26, 2017, 02:58:00 pm »
@Joe Wooten

Providing of course we are talking about human life,not life that evolved to thrive in that atmosphere.

Interesting speculation - of course there is no sentient life-form even remotely similar to something like that. According to what we know of the prerequisites for life, among them is shelter from strong EM/hard radiation (especially higher-energy). See, organic molecules are fragile. They break down rapidly when exposed to things like UV-X-Gamma Ray/nucleon particle ("hard" neutron/proton) radiation bombardment.

So in addition to liquid water, one could reasonably add "protection from harsh radiation" to the requirements for organic life (cell homeostasis). Also all higher-order living things have some sort of RNA or DNA, (another delicate organic molecule) which is subject to destruction by harsh radiation/corrosive chemicals

Even if radiation itself may not be lethal to cells, the by-products of harsh radiation in the form of toxic/corrosive chemicals, are. For instance, even on a fairly Earth-like planet like Mars, where liquid water existed for a long time in large amounts, the lack of a magnetosphere/ionosphere to screen out harsh radiation causes the planet to be bathed eternally in high-energy radiation which creates the poison hydrazine (created when chlorine molecules are bombarded by UV radiation). Virtually all of the water-ice on Mars is likely poisoned with lethal amounts of hydrazine.

My own feeling is that any extraterrestrial life-forms out there capable of knowing we are here, regard us with indifference. Especially if it's a technological culture thousands, millions or billions of years older than our own.

Can we even imagine the sort of technology involved in efficient interstellar travel? My guess is that a culture such as ours would be about as interesting to a Mature Culture with trans galactic traveling capability, as a pond full of trout is to us.
« Last Edit: September 26, 2017, 03:05:44 pm by LateForLunch »
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Offline sneakypete

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Re: Odd White-Dwarf Star System Harbors a 13-Billion-Year-Old Planet
« Reply #4 on: September 26, 2017, 04:49:41 pm »

Quote
My own feeling is that any extraterrestrial life-forms out there capable of knowing we are here, regard us with indifference. Especially if it's a technological culture thousands, millions or billions of years older than our own. 

Can we even imagine the sort of technology involved in efficient interstellar travel? My guess is that a culture such as ours would be about as interesting to a Mature Culture with trans galactic traveling capability, as a pond full of trout is to us.

@LateForLunch

I agree with everything EXCEPT that sentient life can't exist unless it mirrors our own physical abilities/limitations.

In a universe of unknowns,WHY would it be accepted as "known" that any alien life we find or that finds us and cares to contact us will be our "genetic cousins"
Anyone who isn't paranoid in 2021 just isn't thinking clearly!