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Herschel Space Observatory Finds Precursors of Life In Orion
ogre7299 recommends an announcement out of Caltech on a milestone for HIFI, the Herschel Space Observatory's Heterodyne Instrument for the Far Infrared. "The Herschel Space Observatory has revealed the chemical fingerprints of potential life-enabling organic molecules in the Orion Nebula, a nearby stellar nursery in our Milky Way galaxy. ... This detailed-spectrum, obtained with the Heterodyne Instrument for the Far Infrared (HIFI) — one of Herschel's three innovative instruments — demonstrates the gold mine of information that Herschel-HIFI will provide on how organic molecules form in space. The spectrum, one of the first to be obtained with HIFI since it returned to full health in January 2010 following technical difficulties, clearly demonstrates that the instrument is working well. ... [The HIFI instrument had previously been offline since] August 2009 when HIFI experienced an unexpected voltage spike in the electronic system, probably caused by a high-energy cosmic particle, resulting in the instrument shutting down. On 14 January 2010, HIFI was successfully switched back on using its spare electronics, with science observations commencing on 28 February."
It's the only way to be sure!
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We send a probe? We rejoice in the fact that there is life outside of Earth, that there is strong possibility we are not the only intelligent life in this Universe?
Also prepare for our new overlords.
I don't know if they have thought of this, but it seems that what is not seen has more meaning than what is seen. If I had the data, I would look to see if the absorption spectrum was different at the primary frequency of the solar emissions and would indicate to me that life was present. I would assume that inorganic materials would have an absorption spectrum which was different from organic life as it uses this energy to manufacture itself. It would seem that this would be generally true in the overall spectrum of the universe and like the cosmic background measurements there should be a signature of the universe without life and one that indicates life. Just a thought.
Who ever said the probe had to land on the planet?
The American Breed of Christian is something totally nuts. I'm a Christian, and I can tell you some of those religious Americans I've met scare me. Truly something else, really *really* narrow-minded, extreme fundamentalist and take the bible literally (WTF?).
I never understood the vitrol some people on /. show towards religion, until I met some of their Christians. It explained a lot, very irritating people, kept shoving god into every discussion or action.
Note: I'm sure there are very many normal Christians there too, just that a minority really really give the rest a bad name (I hope to god they are a minority).
And what's with tele-evangelism? It's like they turned religion into some sort of pay-for entertainment. I didn't get it at all.
Are they green, and if so - are they female?
#DeleteChrome
If you want to rank life forms according to some arbitrary scale from most to least advanced, you'll find that rats are just as advanced as humans. Their body chemistry is almost identical to ours, they exhibit high intelligence and ability to solve problems. They outnumber humans worldwide, and their high reproductive rate allows them to evolve much faster than us, they probably go through 100 generations for each human generation.
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Ok, so lets say we do find life even as advanced as, say, rats. What do we do with that information? Especially if its so far out that we can't possibly make it to that planet?
We reduce our ignorance as a species. You see, science is about discovering the truths of the universe, regardless of whether or not certain truths are applicable to profitable business plans.
He went in an attack ship, but it caught fire. I've seen it.
Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
"The moment life is detected else where will once and for end the silly notion of god or religion."
Because?
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