Professor mulls odds of life in outer space

by Katie Petroski

More than 300 attendees crowded into a Welch auditorium Wednesday evening to hear what Chris Chyba, a Princeton astrophysical science professor, had to say about the possibility of extraterrestrial life.

The event is part of a yearlong program, “Forging the Future of Space Science,” that began in September 2007 and is held by the Space Studies Board, which will continue to host an array of international space scientists to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the International Geophysical Year. During that year, scientists internationally coordinated a comprehensive collection of observations, resulting in events such as Russia’s launch of Sputnik.

Chyba focused most of his 90-minute lecture on analyzing the presence of liquid water on Mars and under the ice crust of Europa, one of Jupiter’s moons. He projected recent images of formations on Mars’ surface for the audience to consider the possibility that the formations might have been carved by moving water.

“Whether life ever existed or if it successfully retreated to the subsurface is up for speculation,” he said.

Chyba spoke about the upcoming Kepler Mission that will examine more than 100,000 stars to determine how many Earth-sized planets orbit stars.

“After this mission, we’ll know the answer of how many Earth-sized worlds are out there and what fraction are at the right distance from stars to have liquid water at its surface,” Chyba said. “This is something we need to make sure we don’t sleepwalk through two years from now.”

Chyba said he believes it is possible that humans exist alone as science does not yet know the conditions under which life originates or intelligence evolves.

“Astrobiology also needs to speak to human future and the future of human civilization,” he said. “It’s uniquely precious whether we are entirely alone or whether we are part of a grand community.”

Physics freshman Taylor Ratliff said he entertains thoughts of extraterrestrial life and said Chyba was not afraid to speculate with appropriate qualifiers.

“We can’t assume we have the right picture of the universe until we actually find out,” Ratliff said. “If there’s one thing you learn through science, it’s that you shouldn’t say anything is impossible.”

After the lecture, the audience hoped to look at the total lunar eclipse through telescopes but was unable to see the moon through the clouds. The next total lunar eclipse will be visible in December 2010.

(Source: http://media.www.dailytexanonline.com)