“Habitable zone” needn’t mean a whole lot. Abundant Earth is in a habitable one but so is the lifeless Moon, tidally locked.
Exoplanets
First British astronaut: Aliens exist among us
It’s curious how space aliens are assigned to “science,” no matter what proposition is entertained with respect to them. Perhaps they reward sheer, blind faith.
Philosophy prof: Our theories steer us away from finding ET
Every so often the people searching for extraterrestrial life that just never seems to turn up need a pep talk. It often takes the form of “You know, we could be on the wrong track”.
At Smithsonian Magazine: What space aliens must be like
Fascinating to be so sure when we have no evidence of any space aliens at all. A religion underlies this, you may be sure.
At New Scientist: Our puny human brains can’t imagine alien life
Not true! We humans more or less invented the whole idea of aliens. Without us, they probably wouldn’t exist even as a story. Just think: There would be no market for ET tales, films, and trade goods except for us humans. Don’t believe me? Try to get clams or termites interested in ET and see what happens…
Chipping away at the millions of habitable exoplanets…
By some mere cosmic accident, these sudden radiation problems don’t affect us, right?
Talk about hope springing eternal: 2020 for our history-making alien life find?
It would be marvellous to find aliens out there to talk to, even if they turned to be an awful bore. But there is something suspicious about these statistics. With no single alien ever found, they offer us no history to go by.
Rob Sheldon dumps cold water on the “planetary autopsy” that says ET life is common
Sheldon: I would argue that this is a very weak argument, mostly trying to jazz up a very boring data set or at least distract the audience from remembering the “standard candle” Nobel Prize assumed that all white dwarfs were identical. Either way, its a preposterous story attempting to distract from its most distressing results.
Researchers: Rocky dead planets common, therefore ET life common
In case you thought this field was “settled science,” see also, recently: “‘Evolution’ says we are alone” and “Once again, for the thousandth time, we are “closing in” on alien life
Researchers: Exoplanet, 2x the size of Earth, has not only water but possible rain clouds
Most exoplanets, we are told, fall into this size range and it is not yet known if it has a rocky surface, considered important for life. Here’s a roundup of some things we know.
At New Scientist: We’ll soon find out for sure if aliens are out there
Of course, they’re out there and as long as there’s an Out There, they’ll always be out there.
Researchers: Earth may not be the most life-friendly planet
Their computer model might seem more convincing if a single extraterrestrial life form of any sort had ever been found.
Rob Sheldon: Don’t give up all ET hope due to recent exoplanet disappointment
Sheldon: … in our own solar system, Saturn is far outside the “Goldilocks Zone” yet it has a moon, Enceladus, that is emitting steam jets filled with hydrocarbons. … The danger of being overly-quantitative is not just the overreliance on models, or the higher risk of failure, but rather the real probability that “certainty” blinds one from observing the actual phenomenon.
Bad news about life on rocky alien planets
Kreidberg’s team estimated that the promising planet had temperatures of –273 degrees Celsius on the night side and 767 degrees C on the day side, which implies little or no atmosphere to moderate it.
How many Earth-like planets are there?
Claim: ” Based on their simulations, the researchers estimate that planets very close to Earth in size, from three-quarters to one-and-a-half times the size of earth, with orbital periods ranging from 237 to 500 days, occur around approximately one in four stars.”