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Asked by goldeyes202 to Dilwar, Lou, Rachel, Simon, Susan on 13 Nov 2013.
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Simon Langley-Evans answered on 13 Nov 2013:
Sadly not. None of the planets around our sun, apart from Earth can support life. Amazing telescopes based in space, such as Kepler, are now finding planets orbiting other stars and more than 800 of these ‘exoplanets’ have been discovered. It is now possible to know how big these planets are and how far they are from their suns. Based on these we know that there are lots of planets out there which may be similar to Earth and so might be habitable.
The most likely place to find life in our solar system is on one of the moons of Jupiter. It is called Europa and we know that it is covered in thick ice that lie on top of huge oceans of water. We think that life has to have water and light to begin, so there is a lot of interest in whether anything lives in the Europan seas.
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Susan Skelton answered on 14 Nov 2013:
Good question, goldeyes!
Scientists have been looking for planets which might be able to support life for a long time. And so far, we have never found evidence of life on other planets – either little green men or something simpler. Though, of course, that doesn’t necessarily mean that life doesn’t exist there or that those planets could not support life, if we were to put it there – or even move there ourselves!
One strong possibility for a nearby habitable planet is Mars. Whether or not there could be any form of life on Mars is one of the questions that the Mars rover (which is roaming around the surface of Mars at the moment) is trying to find out. Some scientists even think that life on Earth might have first started on Mars and then been transported to Earth on a martian meteorite!
A few weeks ago NASA’s planet-hunting Kepler spacecraft discovered a new planet a long way from our solar system. The planet, called Kepler-22b, is so similar to Earth that scientists think it has a very high chance of being habitable. It is located 600 light-years away from Earth and orbits a star very like our own sun. This planet is 2.4 times bigger than Earth and is almost the same temperature (22 degrees on the surface), so it sounds like it would be perfect if we humans ever need a new home!
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Dilwar Hussain answered on 16 Nov 2013:
Hi goldeyes202, That’s a great question. There’s no habitable planet known to humans at the moment. It’s a question that scientists are still seeking an answer. We know that life originated in water and so to start with, finding water on a planet is key. Mars is a possibility, that’s why NASA have sent their robot called “Curiosity” rover (quite a fitting name I think) to Mars to look for water which may indicate signs of life, at least for bacteria. For humans, I think it’s a long way off. There have been water even on Jupiter’s moon for example but it’s solid ice and many miles thick. One of the things about Earth is that it orbits in an area around the sun that is just right for habitable life, other planets that are close to the sun are either too hot or those farther away from the sun are too cold or just made of gas.
Comments
goldeyes202 commented on :
thank you very much