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Asked by w007 to Ed, Katie, Sam, Steve, Vera on 15 Jun 2011. This question was also asked by adotxdii, chloeandgabby.
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Sam Tazzyman answered on 14 Jun 2011:
As far as I know there is currently no evidence that there is life on other planets. But that doesn’t mean there definitely isn’t life on other planets – it could be that we haven’t yet looked in the right place, or in the right way. The universe is a vast place.
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Steven Daly answered on 14 Jun 2011:
There is no evidence yet. The trouble is how to detect life som so far away. There a few ideas, like looking to see if there is oxygen in the atmosphere, a sure sign of life as oxygen is very reactive and will only be in the atmosphere of a planet if something is replacing it. Another idea is to see if we can receive any radio communication from them.
At the moment however, our technology is not sensitive enough to do this.
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Katie Marriott answered on 14 Jun 2011:
As Steven said it is very difficult to detect life because it is so far away but there are a few of other reasons why it is so difficult to find
1) The universe is so huge that a lot of it we have not looked at. New stars and planets are being discovered week by week and it is difficult to estimate the amount of planets in the universe!
2) The Earth is perfect place to have life on it as it is in the “Goldilocks zone” of our solar system. This means that the Earth is neither too close or too far away from the Sun, so it is neither too hot or too cold. The Earths atmosphere is also perfect as it allows the right amount of the suns rays through so it keeps the Earth warm but there’s not too much radiation. If you look at another solar system it may be that there are no planets in it’s Goldilocks zone and so you are less likely to find life. However, this isn’t to say that life has not evolved there that can put up with high temperatures or lots of radiation.
3) Life on earth is based on carbon and most of it needs water to survive. Because this is what we know this is what scientists are looking for. We can look for certain types of radiation that are reflected from plant life that contains water and so this is how scientists look for possible life. However, if the life present on a different planet is not carbon based or needs water to survive we might not discover it because we are not looking for it! It is very possible that life else where has evolved but very differently from Earth.
I think there is life elsewhere but I am unsure as to whether it will be found in my life time. I also think people will be very disappointed when it is found. It will probably be bacteria or a simple life form rather than a little green man waving at us!
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Ed Morrison answered on 15 Jun 2011:
If there were life millions of light years away, we wouldn’t know about it for millions of years because matter cannot travel faster than the speed of light. So if there is life out there, let’s hope it’s close.
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