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| Life on Other Planets |
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Is there life on any other planet in our solar system other than Earth? Scientists and NASA researchers have studied the theory of life on other planets but still have nothing but theories. Although they have gone into space and explored our solar system with satellites, there is still little proof that any other planet other than Earth can support life. The satellites sent to other planets have taken pictures, but scientists have different interpretations of the pictures taken.
How did our universe even begin? Some scientists believe the big bang theory is a way to explain how the universe began. According to the standard theory, our universe sprang into existence as “singularity” around 13.7 billion years ago. Singularities are zones which defy our current understanding of physics. They are thought to exist at the core of “black holes.” Black holes are areas of intense gravitational pressure. The pressure is thought to be so intense that finite matter is actually squished into infinite density. After the Universes initial appearance it inflated, expanded and cooled, going from very, very small and very, very hot, to the size and temperature of our current universe. It continues to expand and cool to this day and we are inside of it (Hawking).
We are part of the Milky Way galaxy which contains roughly 400 billion stars and is 100,000 light years across. The entire universe contains about 100 billion galaxies, so our galaxy is only a small percentage of the whole universe (Oxlade 11). The known planets in our solar system orbit the sun in a region about seven billion miles in diameter, which is a little over a thousandth of a light year. The nearest star is 4.2 light-years away, thousands of times as far away as the farthest planet in our solar system. The farthest stars in our galaxy are 100,000 light years away. The Andromeda galaxy is over two million light years away but it is our closest neighbor. The farthest known quasar is about 12 billion light years away (Asimov, Great Space Mysteries 23).