The most common type of star in the Milky Way is called a red dwarf–these are smaller, cooler, and longer-lived than our sun. There are 160 BILLION of them in our galaxy and 40% of them have Earth-like planets orbiting them at the right distance for liquid water to exist on their surfaces, a condition that is necessary for life.
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NASA researchers are analyzing the light reflected by Earth–and other planets–to try to figure out which ones have conditions that might harbor life. The Earth shines with a blue light and stands out clearly among the other planets, "like a blue jay in a flock of seagulls." In PhysOrg.com, Daniel Pendick quotes researcher Carolyn Crow as saying, "The method we developed separates the planets out. It makes Earth look unique." Pendick quotes NASA astronomer Lucy McFadden as saying, "Eventually, as telescopes get bigger, there will be the light-gathering power to look at the colors of planets around other stars.read more
A team of international researchers claims to have found what could be the first proof of life beyond our planet: clumps of extraterrestrial bacteria in the Earth?s upper atmosphere. Although they are similar to bacteria on Earth, the scientists say the living cells found in samples of air from the edge of the planet?s atmosphere are too far away to have come from Earth.
?There is now unambiguous evidence for the presence of clumps of living cells in air samples from as high up as 25 miles, well above the local tropopause, above which no air from lower down would normally be transported,? says Professor Chandra Wickramasinghe, an astronomer at Cardiff University in Wales. ?A prima facie case for a space incidence of bacteria onto the Earth may have been established.? read more