Cosmic Perspectives from Amid the Stars:
Astronomy Blog

Earth is the only planet we know in the entire universe to support life. In a universe as big as ours, life likely exists out there somewhere by sheer odds alone. But for now, Earth is all we know and the only example of a habitable planet we can study. So why can Earth support life when so many other planets fail? In order to predict what other planets might support life, we first need to understand life on Earth. What is it that makes Earth perfect for life?

In the late nineteenth century, astronomers believed they had discovered canals on Mars. These obviously artificial structures had to be the work of a civilization on the Red Planet. The idea was so popular that it even influenced H.G. Wells to write The War of the Worlds. The idea that there was life on Mars entered the mainstream mind. However, later observations with better telescopes proved there were no such artificial structures on Mars. It was simply an optical illusio

How likely is it that there are intelligent civilizations out there beyond our Solar System? This is the question that Frank Drake asked in 1961 when he came up with the eponymous Drake Equation. In the search for extraterrestrial life, finding an intelligent civilization that we might even be able to communicate with is the gold standard. We might not have found any yet, but given our knowledge of how the universe works, we should be able to predict how common or rare they a

Are we alone? It’s a question that humanity has long asked itself. Is the universe beyond this rock we call Earth teeming with life, or is biology a fluke never to be repeated? The only way to know the answers is to hunt for them ourselves.