Extraterrestrial life

For other uses, see Astrobiology. life, whereas others argue that it might be dangerous to
actively call attention to Earth.[6][7]

1 Background
Nature timeline
view • discuss •
−13 —
–
−12 — Some
major international efforts to search for extraterrestrial –
life. Clockwise from top left: −11 —
–
• The search for extrasolar planets (image: Kepler −10 —
telescope) –
−9 —
• Listening for extraterrestrial signals indicating intel-
–
ligence (image: Allen array)
−8 —
• Robotic exploration of the Solar System (image: –
Curiosity rover on Mars) −7 —
–
Extraterrestrial life,[n 1] also called alien life (or, if it is −6 —
a sentient or relatively complex individual, an “extrater- –
restrial” or “alien”), is life that does not originate from −5 —
Earth. These hypothetical life forms may range from sim- –
ple single-celled organisms to beings with civilizations far −4 —
more advanced than humanity. Although many scientists –
expect extraterrestrial life to exist in some form, there −3 —
is no evidence for its existence to date.[1][2] The Drake –
equation speculates about the existence of intelligent life −2 —
elsewhere in the universe. The science of extraterrestrial –
life in all its forms is known as exobiology. −1 —
–
The science of astrobiology considers life on Earth as 0—
well, and in the broader astronomical context. In 2015, cosmic expansion
“remains of biotic life" were found in 4.1 billion-year-old Earliest light
rocks in Western Australia, when the young Earth was cosmic speed-up
about 400 million years old.[3][4] According to one of the Solar System
researchers, “If life arose relatively quickly on Earth, then water
it could be common in the universe.”[3] Single-celled life
Since the mid-20th century, there has been an ongo- photosynthesis
ing search for signs of extraterrestrial intelligence, from Multicellular
radios used to detect possible extraterrestrial signals, life
to telescopes used to search for potentially habitable Land life
extrasolar planets.[5] It has also played a major role in Earliest gravity
works of science fiction. Over the years, science fiction Dark energy
works have increased the public’s interest in the possi- Dark matter
bility of extraterrestrial life. Some encourage aggressive ←
methods to try for contact with intelligent extraterrestrial Earliest universe (−13.80)

1
2 2 POSSIBLE BASIS

← not occupy a unique position in the Universe, and the

Earliest galaxy mediocrity principle, which states that there is nothing
← special about life on Earth.[13] The chemistry of life may
Earliest quasar have begun shortly after the Big Bang, 13.8 billion years
← ago, during a habitable epoch when the universe was only
Omega Centauri forms 10–17 million years old.[14][15] Life may have emerged
← independently at many places throughout the universe.
Andromeda Galaxy forms Alternatively, life may have formed less frequently, then
← spread—by meteoroids, for example—between habitable
Milky Way Galaxy planets in a process called panspermia.[16][17] In any
spiral arms form case, complex organic molecules may have formed in
← the protoplanetary disk of dust grains surrounding the
Alpha Centauri forms Sun before the formation of Earth.[18] According to these
← studies, this process may occur outside Earth on several
Earliest Earth (−4.54) planets and moons of the Solar System and on planets of
← other stars.[18]
Earliest life
Since the 1950s, scientists have argued the idea that
← "habitable zones" around stars are the most likely places
Earliest oxygen
to find life. Numerous discoveries in these zones since
← 2007 have generated estimations of frequencies of Earth-
Atmospheric oxygen
like planets —in terms of composition— numbering in
← the many billions[19] though as of 2013, only a small num-
Earliest sexual reproduction
ber of planets have been discovered in these zones.[20]
← Nonetheless, on 4 November 2013, astronomers re-
Cambrian explosion
ported, based on Kepler space mission data, that there
← could be as many as 40 billion Earth-sized planets orbit-
Earliest humans ing in the habitable zones of Sun-like stars and red dwarfs
in the Milky Way,[21][22] 11 billion of which may be orbit-
ing Sun-like stars.[23] The nearest such planet may be 12
L
light-years away, according to the scientists.[21][22] Astro-
i
biologists have also considered a “follow the energy” view
f
of potential habitats.[24][25]
e

P
r 2 Possible basis
i
m
o 2.1 Biochemistry
r
d Main articles: Biochemistry, Hypothetical types of
i biochemistry, and Water and life
a
l Life on Earth requires water as its solvent in which bio-
chemical reactions take place. Sufficient quantities of
Axis scale: billions of years. carbon and other elements, along with water, might en-
Also see: Human timeline and Life timeline able the formation of living organisms on terrestrial plan-
ets with a chemical make-up and temperature range sim-
Alien life, such as microorganisms, has been hypothe- ilar to that of Earth.[26][27] More generally, life based on
sized to exist in the Solar System and throughout the uni- ammonia (rather than water) has been suggested, though
verse. This hypothesis relies on the vast size and con- this solvent appears less suitable than water. It is also con-
sistent physical laws of the observable universe. Ac- ceivable that there are forms of life whose solvent is a liq-
cording to this argument, made by scientists, such as uid hydrocarbon, such as methane, ethane or propane.[28]
Carl Sagan and Stephen Hawking,[8] as well as well- About 29 chemical elements play an active positive role
regarded thinkers, such as Winston Churchill,[9][10] it in living organisms on Earth.[29] About 95% of this living
would be improbable for life not to exist somewhere matter is built upon only six elements: carbon, hydrogen,
other than Earth.[11][12] This argument is embodied in nitrogen, oxygen, phosphorus and sulfur. These six ele-
the Copernican principle, which states that Earth does ments form the basic building blocks of virtually all life
3.1 Venus 3

on Earth, whereas most of the remaining elements are tems with life. The Nobel prize winner Francis Crick,
found only in trace amounts.[30] The unique characteris- along with Leslie Orgel proposed that seeds of life may
tics of carbon make it unlikely that it could be replaced, have been purposely spread by an advanced extrater-
even on another planet, to generate the biochemistry nec- restrial civilization,[45] but considering an early "RNA
essary for life. The carbon atom has the unique ability world" Crick noted later that life may have originated on
to make four strong chemical bonds with other atoms, in- Earth.[46]
cluding other carbon atoms. These covalent bonds have
a direction in space, so that carbon atoms can form the
skeletons of complex 3-dimensional structures with defi- 3.1 Venus
nite architectures such as nucleic acids and proteins. Car-
bon forms more compounds than all other elements com- Main article: Life on Venus
bined. The great versatility of the carbon atom makes it
the element most likely to provide the bases—even ex- In the early 20th century, Venus was often thought to be
otic ones—for the chemical composition of life on other similar to Earth in terms of habitability, but observations
planets.[31] since the beginning of the Space Age have revealed that
Venus’s surface is inhospitable to Earth-like life. How-
ever, between an altitude of 50 and 65 kilometers, the
pressure and temperature are Earth-like, and it has been
3 Planetary habitability in the So- hypothesised that aerial microbial life could exist.[47] Fur-
lar System thermore, Venus likely had liquid water on its surface for
at least a few million years after its formation.[48][49][50]
See also: Planetary habitability and Habitability of
natural satellites
3.2 Mars
Some bodies in the Solar System have the potential for an Main article: Life on Mars
environment in which extraterrestrial life can live, partic-
ularly those with possible subsurface oceans.[32] Should
Life on Mars has been long speculated. Liquid water
life be discovered elsewhere in the Solar System, astrobi-
is widely thought to have existed on Mars in the past,
ologists suggest that it will more likely be in the form of
and now can occasionally be found as low-volume liquid
extremophile microorganisms.
brines in shallow Martian soil.[51] The origin of the po-
Mars may have niche subsurface environments where mi- tential biosignature of methane observed in Mars’ atmo-
crobial life might exist.[33][34][35] A subsurface marine en- sphere is unexplained, although hypotheses not involving
vironment on Jupiter’s moon Europa might be the most life have also been proposed.[52]
likely habitat in the Solar System, outside Earth, for
There is evidence that Mars had a warmer and wetter past:
extremophile microorganisms.[36][37][38]
dried-up river beds, polar ice caps, volcanos, and min-
The panspermia hypothesis proposes that life elsewhere erals that form in the presence of water have all been
in the Solar System may have a common origin. If found. Nevertheless, present conditions on Mars’ sub-
extraterrestrial life was found on another body in the surface may support life.[53][54] Evidence obtained by the
Solar System, it could have originated from Earth just Curiosity rover studying Aeolis Palus, Gale Crater in 2013
as life on Earth could have been seeded from else- strongly suggest an ancient freshwater lake that could have
where (exogenesis). The first known mention of the been a hospitable environment for microbial life.[55][56]
term 'panspermia' was in the writings of the 5th cen-
Current studies on Mars by the Curiosity and Opportunity
tury BC Greek philosopher Anaxagoras.[39] In the 19th
rovers are now searching for evidence of ancient life, in-
century it was again revived in modern form by sev-
cluding a biosphere based on autotrophic, chemotrophic
eral scientists, including Jöns Jacob Berzelius (1834),[40]
and/or chemolithoautotrophic microorganisms, as well as
Kelvin (1871),[41] Hermann von Helmholtz (1879)[42]
ancient water, including fluvio-lacustrine environments
and, somewhat later, by Svante Arrhenius (1903).[43] Sir
(plains related to ancient rivers or lakes) that may have
Fred Hoyle (1915–2001) and Chandra Wickramasinghe
been habitable.[57][58][59][60] The search for evidence of
(born 1939) are important proponents of the hypothesis
habitability, taphonomy (related to fossils), and organic
who further contended that life forms continue to enter
carbon on Mars is now a primary NASA objective.[57]
Earth’s atmosphere, and may be responsible for epidemic
outbreaks, new diseases, and the genetic novelty neces-
sary for macroevolution.[44] 3.3 Ceres
Directed panspermia concerns the deliberate transport
of microorganisms in space, sent to Earth to start Ceres, the only dwarf planet in the asteroid belt, has
life here, or sent from Earth to seed new stellar sys- a thin water-vapor atmosphere.[61][62] Frost on the sur-
4 3 PLANETARY HABITABILITY IN THE SOLAR SYSTEM

face may also have been detected in the form of bright forming chemicals created in sunlit areas on Europa’s sur-
spots.[63][64][65] The presence of water on Ceres has led face could be transferred to its interior.[83][84]
to speculation that life may be possible there.[66][67][68] On 11 December 2013, NASA reported the detection
of "clay-like minerals" (specifically, phyllosilicates), of-
ten associated with organic materials, on the icy crust of
3.4 Jupiter system Europa.[85] The presence of the minerals may have been
the result of a collision with an asteroid or comet accord-
3.4.1 Jupiter ing to the scientists.[85] The Europa Clipper, which would
assess the habitability of Europa, is planned for launch in
Carl Sagan and others in the 1960s and 1970s com- 2025.[86][87] Europa’s subsurface ocean is considered the
puted conditions for hypothetical microorganisms liv- best target for the discovery of life.[36][38]
ing in the atmosphere of Jupiter.[69] The intense ra-
diation and other conditions, however, do not appear
to permit encapsulation and molecular biochemistry, so
life there is thought unlikely.[70] In contrast, some of 3.5 Saturn system
Jupiter’s moons may have habitats capable of sustaining
life. Scientists have indications that heated subsurface Titan and Enceladus have been speculated to have possi-
oceans of liquid water may exist deep under the crusts ble habitats supportive of life.
of the three outer Galilean moons—Europa,[36][37][71]
Ganymede,[72][73][74][75][76] and Callisto.[77][78][79] The
EJSM/Laplace mission is planned to determine the hab- 3.5.1 Enceladus
itability of these environments.
Enceladus, a moon of Saturn, has some of the condi-
tions for life, including geothermal activity and water va-
3.4.2 Europa por, as well as possible under-ice oceans heated by tidal
effects.[88][89] The Cassini–Huygens probe detected car-
Main article: Life on Europa bon, hydrogen, nitrogen and oxygen—all key elements
Jupiter’s moon Europa has been subject to speculation for supporting life—during its 2005 flyby through one of
Enceladus’s geysers spewing ice and gas. The tempera-
ture and density of the plumes indicate a warmer, watery
source beneath the surface.[52]

3.5.2 Titan

Main article: Life on Titan

Titan, the largest moon of Saturn, is the only known

moon in the Solar System with a significant atmosphere.
Data from the Cassini–Huygens mission refuted the hy-
pothesis of a global hydrocarbon ocean, but later demon-
strated the existence of liquid hydrocarbon lakes in the
Internal structure of Europa. The blue is a subsurface ocean. polar regions—the first stable bodies of surface liquid
Such subsurface oceans could possibly harbor life.[80] discovered outside Earth.[90][91][92] Analysis of data from
the mission has uncovered aspects of atmospheric chem-
about the existence of life due to the strong possibil- istry near the surface that are consistent with—but do
ity of a liquid water ocean beneath its ice surface.[36][38] not prove—the hypothesis that organisms there if present,
Hydrothermal vents on the bottom of the ocean, if they could be consuming hydrogen, acetylene and ethane, and
exist, may warm the ice and could be capable of support- producing methane.[93][94][95]
ing multicellular microorganisms.[81] It is also possible
that Europa could support aerobic macrofauna using oxy-
gen created by cosmic rays impacting its surface ice.[82] 3.6 Small Solar System bodies
The case for life on Europa was greatly enhanced in
2011 when it was discovered that vast lakes exist within Small Solar System bodies have also been speculated to
Europa’s thick, icy shell. Scientists found that ice host habitats for extremophiles. Fred Hoyle and Chandra
shelves surrounding the lakes appear to be collapsing into Wickramasinghe have proposed that microbial life might
them, thereby providing a mechanism through which life- exist on comets and asteroids.[96][97][98][99]
4.1 Direct search 5

3.7 Other bodies

Models of heat retention and heating via radioactive de-

cay in smaller icy Solar System bodies suggest that Rhea,
Titania, Oberon, Triton, Pluto, Eris, Sedna, and Orcus
may have oceans underneath solid icy crusts approxi-
mately 100 km thick.[100] Of particular interest in these
cases is the fact that the models indicate that the liquid
layers are in direct contact with the rocky core, which
allows efficient mixing of minerals and salts into the wa-
ter. This is in contrast with the oceans that may be in-
side larger icy satellites like Ganymede, Callisto, or Titan,
where layers of high-pressure phases of ice are thought to
underlie the liquid water layer.[100] Electron micrograph of martian meteorite ALH84001 showing
structures that some scientists think could be fossilized bacteria-
Hydrogen sulfide has been proposed as a hypothetical sol- like life forms.
vent for life and is quite plentiful on Jupiter’s moon Io,
and may be in liquid form a short distance below the
surface.[101]
bated, support among some scientists for the existence of
life on Mars exists.[115]
In November 2011, NASA launched the Mars Science
4 Scientific search Laboratory that landed the Curiosity rover on Mars. It
is designed to assess the past and present habitability on
The scientific search for extraterrestrial life is being car- Mars using a variety of scientific instruments. The rover
ried out both directly and indirectly. As of March landed on Mars at Gale Crater in August 2012.[116][117]
2017, more than 3,500 confirmed exoplanets have been
The Gaia hypothesis stipulates that any planet with a ro-
identified,[102] and other planets and moons in our own
bust population of life will have an atmosphere in chem-
solar system hold the potential for hosting primitive life
ical disequilibrium, which is relatively easy to determine
such as microorganisms.
from a distance by spectroscopy. However, significant
advances in the ability to find and resolve light from
4.1 Direct search smaller rocky worlds near their star are necessary before
such spectroscopic methods can be used to analyze ex-
Scientists search for biosignatures within the Solar trasolar planets. To that effect, the Carl Sagan Institute
System by studying planetary surfaces and exam- was founded in 2014 and is dedicated to the atmospheric
ining meteorites.[14][15] Some claim to have iden- characterization [118][119]
of exoplanets in circumstellar habitable
tified evidence that microbial life has existed on zones. Planetary spectroscopic data will be ob-
[103][104][105][106][107][108] tained from telescopes like WFIRST and E-ELT.[120]
Mars. An experiment on the two
Viking Mars landers reported gas emissions from heated In August 2011, findings by NASA, based on stud-
Martian soil samples that some scientists argue are con- ies of meteorites found on Earth, suggest DNA and
sistent with the presence of living microorganisms.[109] RNA components (adenine, guanine and related organic
Lack of corroborating evidence from other experiments molecules), building blocks for life as we know it, may
on the same samples, indicates that a non-biological reac- be formed extraterrestrially in outer space.[121][122][123] In
tion is a more likely hypothesis.[109][110][111][112] In 1996, October 2011, scientists reported that cosmic dust con-
a controversial report stated that structures resembling tains complex organic matter (“amorphous organic solids
nanobacteria were discovered in a meteorite, ALH84001, with a mixed aromatic-aliphatic structure”) that could be
formed of rock ejected from Mars.[103][104] created naturally, and rapidly, by stars.[124][125][126] One
In February 2005, NASA scientists reported that they of the scientists suggested that these compounds may
may have found some evidence of present life on have been related to the development of life on Earth and
Mars.[113] The two scientists, Carol Stoker and Larry said that, “If this is the case, life on Earth may have had
Lemke of NASA’s Ames Research Center, based their an easier time getting started[124] as these organics can serve
claim on methane signatures found in Mars’s atmosphere as basic ingredients for life.”
resembling the methane production of some forms of In August 2012, and in a world first, astronomers at
primitive life on Earth, as well as on their own study Copenhagen University reported the detection of a spe-
of primitive life near the Rio Tinto river in Spain. cific sugar molecule, glycolaldehyde, in a distant star sys-
NASA officials soon distanced NASA from the scien- tem. The molecule was found around the protostellar
tists’ claims, and Stoker herself backed off from her initial binary IRAS 16293-2422, which is located 400 light
assertions.[114] Though such methane findings are still de- years from Earth.[127][128] Glycolaldehyde is needed to
6 5 THE DRAKE EQUATION

form ribonucleic acid, or RNA, which is similar in func-

tion to DNA. This finding suggests that complex organic
molecules may form in stellar systems prior to the forma-
tion of planets, eventually arriving on young planets early
in their formation.[129]

4.2 Indirect search

Projects such as SETI are monitoring the galaxy for elec-
tromagnetic interstellar communications from civiliza-
tions on other worlds.[130][131] If there is an advanced Artist’s impression of the Kepler telescope in space.
extraterrestrial civilization, there is no guarantee that it
is transmitting radio communications in the direction of
Earth or that this information could be interpreted as such thousand[137][138] candidate planets,[139][140] of which
by humans. The length of time required for a signal to about 11% may be false positives.[141]
travel across the vastness of space means that any signal
There is at least one planet on average per star.[142]
detected would come from the distant past.[132]
About 1 in 5 Sun-like stars[lower-alpha 1] have an "Earth-
The presence of heavy elements in a star’s light-spectrum sized”[lower-alpha 2] planet in the habitable zone,[lower-alpha 3]
is another potential biosignature; such elements would (in with the nearest expected to be within 12 light-years dis-
theory) be found if the star was being used as an inciner- tance from Earth.[143][144] Assuming 200 billion stars in
ator/repository for nuclear waste products.[133] the Milky Way,[lower-alpha 4] that would be 11 billion po-
tentially habitable Earth-sized planets in the Milky Way,
rising to 40 billion if red dwarfs are included.[23] The
4.3 Extrasolar planets rogue planets in the Milky Way possibly number in the
trillions.[145]
Main article: Extrasolar planets
See also: List of planetary systems The nearest known exoplanet is Proxima Centauri b, lo-
Some astronomers search for extrasolar planets that may cated 4.2 light-years (1.3 pc) from Earth in the southern
constellation of Centaurus.[146]
As of March 2014, the least massive planet known is PSR
B1257+12 A, which is about twice the mass of the Moon.
The most massive planet listed on the NASA Exoplanet
Archive is DENIS-P J082303.1-491201 b,[147][148] about
29 times the mass of Jupiter, although according to most
definitions of a planet, it is too massive to be a planet and
may be a brown dwarf instead. Almost all of the planets
detected so far are within the Milky Way, but there have
also been a few possible detections of extragalactic plan-
ets. The study of planetary habitability also considers a
wide range of other factors in determining the suitability
of a planet for hosting life.[5]

Artist’s Impression of Gliese 581 c, the first terrestrial extrasolar

planet discovered within its star’s habitable zone. 5 The Drake equation
be conducive to life, narrowing the search to terrestrial Main article: Drake equation
planets within the habitable zone of their star.[134][135]
Since 1992 over two thousand exoplanets have been dis-
In 1961, University of California, Santa Cruz, astronomer
covered (3,607 planets in 2,701 planetary systems in-
and astrophysicist Frank Drake devised the Drake equa-
cluding 610 multiple planetary systems as of 1 April
tion as a way to stimulate scientific dialogue at a meeting
2017).[102] The extrasolar planets so far discovered range
on the search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI).[149]
in size from that of terrestrial planets similar to Earth’s
The Drake equation is a probabilistic argument used to
size to that of gas giants larger than Jupiter.[102] The num-
estimate the number of active, communicative extrater-
ber of observed exoplanets is expected to increase greatly
restrial civilizations in the Milky Way galaxy. The equa-
in the coming years.[136] tion is best understood not as an equation in the strictly
The Kepler space telescope has also detected a few mathematical sense, but to summarize all the various con-
 7

cepts which scientists must contemplate when consider- The apparent contradiction between high estimates of the
ing the question of life elsewhere.[150] The Drake equa- probability of the existence of extraterrestrial civilizations
tion is: and the lack of evidence for such civilizations is known
as the Fermi paradox.[158]

N = R ∗ · f p · ne · f ℓ · f i · f c · L
6 Cultural impact
where:

N = the number of Milky Way galaxy

6.1 Cosmic pluralism
civilizations already capable of communicating
across interplanetary space Main article: Cosmic pluralism

and Cosmic pluralism, the plurality of worlds, or simply

pluralism, describes the philosophical belief in numer-
ous “worlds” in addition to Earth, which might har-
R* = the average rate of star formation in our bor extraterrestrial life. Before the development of the
galaxy heliocentric theory and a recognition that our Sun is
fp = the fraction of those stars that have planets just one of many stars,[159] the notion of pluralism was
largely mythological and philosophical.[160][161][162] With
ne = the average number of planets that can po-
the scientific and Copernican revolutions, and later, dur-
tentially support life
ing the Enlightenment, cosmic pluralism became a main-
fl = the fraction of planets that actually support stream notion, supported by the likes of Bernard le Bovier
life de Fontenelle in his 1686 work Entretiens sur la plu-
fi = the fraction of planets with life that evolves ralité des mondes.[163] Pluralism was also championed
to become intelligent life (civilizations) by philosophers such as John Locke, Giordano Bruno
and astronomers such as William Herschel. The as-
fc = the fraction of civilizations that develop tronomer Camille Flammarion promoted the notion of
a technology to broadcast detectable signs of cosmic pluralism in his 1862 book La pluralité des mon-
their existence into space des habités.[164] None of these notions of pluralism were
L = the length of time over which such civiliza- based on any specific observation or scientific informa-
tions broadcast detectable signals into space tion.

Drake’s proposed estimates are as follows, but numbers

on the right side of the equation are agreed as speculative 6.2 Early modern period
and open to substitution:
There was a dramatic shift in thinking initiated by the in-
10,000 = 5 · 0.5 · 2 · 1 · 0.2 · 1 · 10,000 [151] vention of the telescope and the Copernican assault on
The Drake equation has proved controversial since several geocentric cosmology. Once it became clear that Earth
of its factors are uncertain and based on conjecture, not was merely one planet amongst countless bodies in the
allowing conclusions to be made.[152] This has led critics universe, the theory of extraterrestrial life started to be-
to label the equation a guesstimate, or even meaningless. come a topic in the scientific community. The best known
early-modern proponent of such ideas was the Italian
Based on observations from the Hubble Space Telescope,
there are between 125 and 250 billion galaxies in the ob- philosopher Giordano Bruno, who argued in the 16th cen-
servable universe.[153] It is estimated that at least ten per- tury for an infinite universe in which every star is sur-
cent of all Sun-like stars have a system of planets,[154] i.e. rounded by its own planetary system. Bruno wrote that
there are 6.25×1018 stars with planets orbiting them in other worlds “have no less virtue nor a nature different to
the observable universe. Even if it is assumed that only that of our earth” [165]
and, like Earth, “contain animals and
one out of a billion of these stars has planets support- inhabitants”.
ing life, there would be some 6.25 billion life-supporting In the early 17th century, the Czech astronomer Anton
planetary systems in the observable universe. Maria Schyrleus of Rheita mused that “if Jupiter has (...)
A 2013 study based on results from the Kepler space- inhabitants (...) they must be larger and more beautiful
craft estimated that the Milky Way contains at least as than the inhabitants of Earth, in[166]proportion to the [char-
many planets as it does stars, resulting in 100–400 billion acteristics] of the two spheres”.
exoplanets.[155][156] Also based on Kepler data, scientists In Baroque literature such as The Other World: The So-
estimate that at least one in six stars has an Earth-sized cieties and Governments of the Moon by Cyrano de Berg-
planet.[157] erac, extraterrestrial societies are presented as humoristic
8 6 CULTURAL IMPACT

or ironic parodies of earthly society. The didactic poet Verne's Around the Moon (1870) features a discussion of
Henry More took up the classical theme of the Greek the possibility of life on the Moon, but with the conclu-
Democritus in “Democritus Platonissans, or an Essay sion that it is barren. Stories involving extraterrestrials
Upon the Infinity of Worlds” (1647). In “The Creation: a are found in e.g. Garrett P. Serviss's Edison’s Conquest
Philosophical Poem in Seven Books” (1712), Sir Richard of Mars (1898), an unauthorized sequel to The War of
Blackmore observed: “We may pronounce each orb sus- the Worlds by H. G. Wells was published in 1897 which
tains a race / Of living things adapted to the place”. With stands at the beginning of the popular idea of the “Mar-
the new relative viewpoint that the Copernican revolu- tian invasion” of Earth prominent in 20th-century pop
tion had wrought, he suggested “our world’s sunne / Be- culture.
comes a starre elsewhere”. Fontanelle's “Conversations
on the Plurality of Worlds” (translated into English in
1686) offered similar excursions on the possibility of ex- 6.4 20th century
traterrestrial life, expanding, rather than denying, the cre-
ative sphere of a Maker. See also: Space exploration
The possibility of extraterrestrials remained a widespread Most unidentified flying objects or UFO sightings[170]
speculation as scientific discovery accelerated. William can be readily explained as sightings of Earth-based
Herschel, the discoverer of Uranus, was one of many aircraft, known astronomical objects, or as hoaxes.[171]
18th–19th-century astronomers who believed that the Nonetheless, a certain fraction of the public believe that
Solar System is populated by alien life. Other luminar- UFOs might actually be of extraterrestrial origin, and, in-
ies of the period who championed “cosmic pluralism” in- deed, the notion has had influence on popular culture.
cluded Immanuel Kant and Benjamin Franklin. At the The possibility of extraterrestrial life on the Moon was
height of the Enlightenment, even the Sun and Moon were ruled out in the 1960s, and during the 1970s it became
considered candidates for extraterrestrial inhabitants. clear that most of the other bodies of the Solar System do
not harbor highly developed life, although the question of
primitive life on bodies in the Solar System remains open.
6.3 19th century

6.5 Recent history

The failure so far of the SETI program to detect an intel-

ligent radio signal after decades of effort has at least par-
tially dimmed the prevailing optimism of the beginning
of the space age. Notwithstanding, belief in extraterres-
trial beings continues to be voiced in pseudoscience, con-
spiracy theories, and in popular folklore, notably "Area
51" and legends. It has become a pop culture trope given
less-than-serious treatment in popular entertainment.
Artificial Martian channels, depicted by Percival Lowell
In the words of SETI’s Frank Drake, “All we know for
sure is that the sky is not littered with powerful microwave
Speculation about life on Mars increased in the late transmitters”.[172] Drake noted that it is entirely possible
19th century, following telescopic observation of appar-
that advanced technology results in communication be-
ent Martian canal—which soon, however, turned out to ing carried out in some way other than conventional ra-
be optical illusions.[167] Despite this, in 1895, American
dio transmission. At the same time, the data returned by
astronomer Percival Lowell published his book Mars, fol- space probes, and giant strides in detection methods, have
lowed by Mars and its Canals in 1906, proposing that the allowed science to begin delineating habitability criteria
canals were the work of a long-gone civilization.[168] This on other worlds, and to confirm that at least other plan-
idea led British writer H. G. Wells to write the novel The ets are plentiful, though aliens remain a question mark.
War of the Worlds in 1897, telling of an invasion by aliens The Wow! signal, detected in 1977 by a SETI project,
from Mars who were fleeing the planet’s desiccation. remains a subject of speculative debate.
Spectroscopic analysis of Mars’s atmosphere began in In 2000, geologist and paleontologist Peter Ward and
earnest in 1894, when U.S. astronomer William Wal- astrobiologist Donald Brownlee published a book entitled
lace Campbell showed that neither water nor oxygen was Rare Earth: Why Complex Life is Uncommon in the Uni-
present in the Martian atmosphere.[169] By 1909 better verse.[173] In it, they discussed the Rare Earth hypothe-
telescopes and the best perihelic opposition of Mars since
sis, in which they claim that Earth-like life is rare in the
1877 conclusively put an end to the canal hypothesis. universe, whereas microbial life is common. Ward and
The science fiction genre, although not so named during Brownlee are open to the idea of evolution on other plan-
the time, developed during the late 19th century. Jules ets that is not based on essential Earth-like characteristics
 9

(such as DNA and carbon).

Theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking in 2010 warned
that humans should not try to contact alien life forms.
He warned that aliens might pillage Earth for resources.
“If aliens visit us, the outcome would be much as when
Columbus landed in America, which didn't turn out well
for the Native Americans", he said.[174] Jared Diamond
had earlier expressed similar concerns.[175]
In November 2011, the White House released an official
response to two petitions asking the U.S. government to
acknowledge formally that aliens have visited Earth and
to disclose any intentional withholding of government in-
teractions with extraterrestrial beings. According to the
response, “The U.S. government has no evidence that any
life exists outside our planet, or that an extraterrestrial
presence has contacted or engaged any member of the hu-
man race.”[176][177] Also, according to the response, there
is “no credible information to suggest that any evidence
is being hidden from the public’s eye.”[176][177] The re-
sponse noted “odds are pretty high” that there may be
life on other planets but “the odds of us making contact
with any of them—especially any intelligent ones—are
extremely small, given the distances involved.”[176][177]
In 2013, the exoplanet Kepler-62f was discovered, along
with Kepler-62e and Kepler-62c. A related special issue
of the journal Science, published earlier, described the
discovery of the exoplanets.[178]
On 17 April 2014, the discovery of the Earth-size exo-
planet Kepler-186f, 500 light-years from Earth, was pub-
licly announced;[179] it is the first Earth-size planet to be
discovered in the habitable zone and it has been hypoth-
esized that there may be liquid water on its surface.
On 13 February 2015, scientists (including Geoffrey
Marcy, Seth Shostak, Frank Drake and David Brin) at a
convention of the American Association for the Advance-
ment of Science, discussed Active SETI and whether
transmitting a message to possible intelligent extraterres-
trials in the Cosmos was a good idea;[180][181] one result
was a statement, signed by many, that a “worldwide sci-
entific, political and humanitarian discussion must occur
before any message is sent”.[182]
On 20 July 2015, Stephen Hawking, British physicist,
and Yuri Milner, Russian billionaire, along with the
SETI Institute, announced a well-funded effort, called
the Breakthrough Initiatives, to expand efforts to search
for extraterrestrial life. The group contracted the services
of the 100-meter Robert C. Byrd Green Bank Telescope
in West Virginia in the United States and the 64-meter
Parkes Telescope in New South Wales, Australia.[183]

The Arecibo message is a digital message sent to Messier 13, and

is a well-known symbol of human attempts to contact extrater- 7 See also
restrials.

Searches for extraterrestrial life

10 9 REFERENCES

• Allen Telescope Array 9 References

• Astrobiology [1] Davies, Paul (18 November 2013). “Are We Alone in the
Universe?". New York Times. Retrieved 20 November
• Communication with extraterrestrial intelligence 2013.
• Nexus for Exoplanet System Science [2] Pickrell, John (4 September 2006). “Top 10: Controver-
sial pieces of evidence for extraterrestrial life”. New Sci-
• SETI entist. Retrieved 18 February 2011.
[3] Borenstein, Seth (19 October 2015). “Hints of life
Subjects on what was thought to be desolate early Earth”.
Excite. Yonkers, NY: Mindspark Interactive Network.
Associated Press. Retrieved 20 October 2015.
• Extraterrestrial liquid water
[4] Bell, Elizabeth A.; Boehnike, Patrick; Harrison, T.
• Planetary protection Mark; et al. (19 October 2015). “Potentially bio-
genic carbon preserved in a 4.1 billion-year-old zir-
• Potential cultural impact of extraterrestrial contact con” (PDF). Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.
Washington, D.C.: National Academy of Sciences.
Hypotheses 112: 14518–21. Bibcode:2015PNAS..11214518B.
doi:10.1073/pnas.1517557112. ISSN 1091-6490. PMC
4664351 . PMID 26483481. Retrieved 20 October
• Aurelia and Blue Moon 2015. Early edition, published online before print.
• Fermi paradox [5] Overbye, Dennis (6 January 2015). “As Ranks of
Goldilocks Planets Grow, Astronomers Consider What’s
• Hypothetical types of biochemistry Next”. New York Times. Retrieved 6 January 2015.

• Kardashev scale [6] Ghosh, Pallab (12 February 2015). “Scientists in US are
urged to seek contact with aliens”. BBC News.
• Metalaw [7] Baum, Seth; Haqq-Misra, Jacob; Domagal-Goldman,
Shawn (June 2011). “Would Contact with Extraterres-
• Rare Earth hypothesis trials Benefit or Harm Humanity? A Scenario Anal-
ysis”. Acta Astronautica. 68 (11): 2114–2129.
• Sentience quotient
arXiv:1104.4462 . Bibcode:2011AcAau..68.2114B.
• Zoo hypothesis doi:10.1016/j.actaastro.2010.10.012.
[8] Weaver, Rheyanne. “Ruminations on other worlds”. State
Press. Retrieved 10 March 2014.
8 Notes [9] Livio, Mario (15 February 2017). “Winston Churchill’s
essay on alien life found”. Nature. 542: 289–291.
[1] Where “extraterrestrial” is derived from the Latin extra doi:10.1038/542289a. Retrieved 18 February 2017.
(“beyond”, “not of”) and terrestris (“of Earth", “belonging
[10] De Freytas-Tamura, Kimiko (15 February 2017).
to Earth”).
“Winston Churchill Wrote of Alien Life in a Lost Essay”.
New York Times. Retrieved 18 February 2017.
[1] For the purpose of this 1 in 5 statistic, “Sun-like” means
[11] Steiger, Brad; White, John, eds. (1986). Other Worlds,
G-type star. Data for Sun-like stars wasn't available so this
Other Universes. Health Research Books. p. 3. ISBN
statistic is an extrapolation from data about K-type stars
0-7873-1291-6.
[2] For the purpose of this 1 in 5 statistic, Earth-sized means [12] Filkin, David; Hawking, Stephen W. (1998). Stephen
1–2 Earth radii Hawking’s universe: the cosmos explained. Art of Mentor-
ing Series. Basic Books. p. 194. ISBN 0-465-08198-3.
[3] For the purpose of this 1 in 5 statistic, “habitable zone”
means the region with 0.25 to 4 times Earth’s stellar flux [13] Rauchfuss, Horst (2008). Chemical Evolution and the Ori-
(corresponding to 0.5–2 AU for the Sun). gin of Life. trans. Terence N. Mitchell. Springer. ISBN
3-540-78822-0.
[4] About 1/4 of stars are GK Sun-like stars. The number
of stars in the galaxy is not accurately known, but assum- [14] Loeb, Abraham (October 2014). “The Habit-
ing 200 billion stars in total, the Milky Way would have able Epoch of the Early Universe”. International
about 50 billion Sun-like (GK) stars, of which about 1 in Journal of Astrobiology. 13 (04): 337–339.
5 (22%) or 11 billion would be Earth-sized in the habit- arXiv:1312.0613 . Bibcode:2014IJAsB..13..337L.
able zone. Including red dwarfs would increase this to 40 doi:10.1017/S1473550414000196. Retrieved 15
billion. December 2014.
 11

[15] Dreifus, Claudia (2 December 2014). “Much-Discussed [27] Pace, Norman R. (20 January 2001). “The univer-
Views That Go Way Back – Avi Loeb Ponders the Early sal nature of biochemistry”. Proceedings of the Na-
Universe, Nature and Life”. New York Times. Retrieved tional Academy of Sciences of the United States of Amer-
3 December 2014. ica. 98 (3): 805–808. Bibcode:2001PNAS...98..805P.
doi:10.1073/pnas.98.3.805. PMC 33372 . PMID
[16] Rampelotto, P. H. (April 2010). Panspermia: A Promis- 11158550.
ing Field Of Research (PDF). Astrobiology Science Con-
ference 2010: Evolution and Life: Surviving Catastrophes [28] National Research Council (2007). “6.2.2: Nonpo-
and Extremes on Earth and Beyond. 20–26 April 2010. lar Solvents”. The Limits of Organic Life in Plane-
League City, Texas. Bibcode:2010LPICo1538.5224R. tary Systems. The National Academies Press. p. 74.
doi:10.17226/11919. ISBN 978-0-309-10484-5.
[17] Gonzalez, Guillermo; Richards, Jay Wesley (2004). The
privileged planet: how our place in the cosmos is designed [29] Nielsen, Forrest H. (1999). “Ultratrace Minerals”. In
for discovery. Regnery Publishing. pp. 343–345. ISBN Shils, Maurice E.; Shike, Moshe. Modern Nutrition in
0-89526-065-4. Health and Disease (9th ed.). Williams & Wilkins. pp.
283–303. ISBN 978-0-683-30769-6.
[18] Moskowitz, Clara (29 March 2012). “Life’s Building
Blocks May Have Formed in Dust Around Young Sun”. [30] Mix, Lucas John (2009). Life in space: astrobiology for
Space.com. Retrieved 30 March 2012. everyone. Harvard University Press. p. 76. ISBN 0-674-
03321-3. Retrieved 8 August 2011.
[19] Choi, Charles Q. (21 March 2011). “New Estimate for
[31] Horowitz, Norman H. (1986). To Utopia and Back: The
Alien Earths: 2 Billion in Our Galaxy Alone”. Space.com.
Search for Life in the Solar System. W. H. Freeman & Co.
Retrieved 24 April 2011.
ISBN 0-7167-1765-4.
[20] Torres, Abel Mendez (26 April 2013). “Ten potentially [32] Dyches, Preston; Chou, Felcia (7 April 2015). “The Solar
habitable exoplanets now”. Habitable Exoplanets Catalog. System and Beyond is Awash in Water”. NASA. Retrieved
University of Puerto Rico. Retrieved 29 April 2013. 8 April 2015.
[21] Overbye, Dennis (4 November 2013). “Far-Off Planets [33] Summons, Roger E.; Amend, Jan P.; Bish, David;
Like the Earth Dot the Galaxy”. New York Times. Re- Buick, Roger; Cody, George D.; Des Marais, David
trieved 5 November 2013. J.; Dromart, Gilles; Eigenbrode, Jennifer L.; et
al. (2011). “Preservation of Martian Organic
[22] Petigura, Eric A.; Howard, Andrew W.; Marcy, and Environmental Records: Final Report of the
Geoffrey W. (31 October 2013). “Prevalence Mars Biosignature Working Group”. Astrobiology.
of Earth-size planets orbiting Sun-like stars”. 11 (2): 157–81. Bibcode:2011AsBio..11..157S.
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of doi:10.1089/ast.2010.0506. PMID 21417945. There
the United States of America. 110: 19273–19278. is general consensus that extant microbial life on Mars
arXiv:1311.6806 . Bibcode:2013PNAS..11019273P. would probably exist (if at all) in the subsurface and at
doi:10.1073/pnas.1319909110. PMC 3845182 . PMID low abundance.
24191033. Retrieved 5 November 2013.
[34] Michalski, Joseph R.; Cuadros, Javier; Niles, Paul B.;
[23] Khan, Amina (4 November 2013). “Milky Way may host Parnell, John; Deanne Rogers, A.; Wright, Shawn P.
billions of Earth-size planets”. Los Angeles Times. Re- (2013). “Groundwater activity on Mars and implications
trieved 5 November 2013. for a deep biosphere”. Nature Geoscience. 6 (2): 133–8.
Bibcode:2013NatGe...6..133M. doi:10.1038/ngeo1706.
[24] Hoehler, Tori M.; Amend, Jan P.; Shock, Ev-
erett L. (2007). “A “Follow the Energy” Ap- [35] “Habitability and Biology: What are the Properties of
proach for Astrobiology”. Astrobiology. 7 Life?". Phoenix Mars Mission. The University of Ari-
(6): 819–823. Bibcode:2007AsBio...7..819H. zona. Retrieved 6 June 2013. If any life exists on Mars
doi:10.1089/ast.2007.0207. ISSN 1531-1074. PMID today, scientists believe it is most likely to be in pockets
18069913. of liquid water beneath the Martian surface.

[25] Jones, Eriita G.; Lineweaver, Charles H. [36] Tritt, Charles S. (2002). “Possibility of Life on Europa”.
(2010). “To What Extent Does Terrestrial Milwaukee School of Engineering. Archived from the
Life “Follow The Water"?". Astrobiology. 10 original on 9 June 2007. Retrieved 10 August 2007.
(3): 349–361. Bibcode:2010AsBio..10..349J. [37] Kargel, Jeffrey S.; Kaye, Jonathan Z.; Head, James
doi:10.1089/ast.2009.0428. ISSN 1531-1074. W.; Marion, Giles M.; Sassen, Roger; et al. (Novem-
ber 2000). “Europa’s Crust and Ocean: Origin,
[26] Bond, Jade C.; O'Brien, David P.; Lauretta, Dante
Composition, and the Prospects for Life”. Icarus.
S. (June 2010). “The Compositional Diversity of
148 (1): 226–265. Bibcode:2000Icar..148..226K.
Extrasolar Terrestrial Planets. I. In Situ Simulations”.
doi:10.1006/icar.2000.6471.
The Astrophysical Journal. 715 (2): 1050–1070.
arXiv:1004.0971 . Bibcode:2010ApJ...715.1050B. [38] Schulze-Makuch, Dirk; Irwin, Louis N. (2001).
doi:10.1088/0004-637X/715/2/1050. “Alternative Energy Sources Could Support Life on
12 9 REFERENCES

Europa” (PDF). Departments of Geological and Biolog- [54] de Vera, J.-P.; Kohler, Ulrich (26 April 2012). “The adap-
ical Sciences, University of Texas at El Paso. Archived tation potential of extremophiles to Martian surface con-
from the original (PDF) on 3 July 2006. Retrieved 21 ditions and its implication for the habitability of Mars”
December 2007. (PDF). European Geosciences Union. Archived from the
original (PDF) on 8 June 2012. Retrieved 27 April 2012.
[39] O'Leary, Margaret R. (2008). Anaxagoras and the Ori-
gin of Panspermia Theory. iUniverse. ISBN 978-0-595- [55] Chang, Kenneth (9 December 2013). “On Mars, an An-
49596-2. cient Lake and Perhaps Life”. New York Times. Retrieved
9 December 2013.
[40] Berzelius, Jöns Jacob (1834). “Analysis of the Alais mete-
orite and implications about life in other worlds”. Annalen [56] “Science – Special Collection – Curiosity Rover on Mars”.
der Chemie und Pharmacie. 10: 134–135. Science. 9 December 2013. Retrieved 9 December 2013.
[41] Thomson, William (August 1871). “The British Asso- [57] Grotzinger, John P. (24 January 2014). “Introduction
ciation Meeting at Edinburgh”. Nature. 4 (92): 262. to Special Issue – Habitability, Taphonomy, and the
Bibcode:1871Natur...4..261.. doi:10.1038/004261a0. Search for Organic Carbon on Mars”. Science.
We must regard it as probably to the highest degree that 343 (6169): 386–387. Bibcode:2014Sci...343..386G.
there are countless seed-bearing meteoritic stones moving doi:10.1126/science.1249944. PMID 24458635. Re-
through space. trieved 24 January 2014.
[42] Demets, René (October 2012). “Darwin’s Contribution [58] “Special Issue – Table of Contents – Exploring Martian
to the Development of the Panspermia Theory”. Astro- Habitability”. Science. 343 (6169): 345–452. 24 January
biology. 12 (10): 946–950. doi:10.1089/ast.2011.0790. 2014. Retrieved 24 January 2014.
PMID 23078643.
[59] “Special Collection – Curiosity – Exploring Martian Hab-
[43] Arrhenius, Svante (March 1908). Worlds in the Making: itability”. Science. 24 January 2014. Retrieved 24 Jan-
The Evolution of the Universe. trans. H. Borns. Harper & uary 2014.
Brothers. OCLC 1935295.
[60] Grotzinger, J. P.; et al. (24 January 2014). “A
[44] Hoyle, Fred; Wickramasinghe, Chandra; Watson, Habitable Fluvio-Lacustrine Environment at Yel-
John (1986). Viruses from Space and Related lowknife Bay, Gale Crater, Mars”. Science. 343
Matters (PDF). University College Cardiff Press. (6169): 1242777. Bibcode:2014Sci...343A.386G.
Bibcode:1986vfsr.book.....H. ISBN 978-0-906449-93-6. doi:10.1126/science.1242777. PMID 24324272.
Retrieved 24 January 2014.
[45] Crick, F. H.; Orgel, L. E. (1973). “Directed Panspermia”.
Icarus. 19: 341–348. Bibcode:1973Icar...19..341C. [61] Küppers, M.; O'Rourke, L.; Bockelée-Morvan, D.; Za-
doi:10.1016/0019-1035(73)90110-3. kharov, V.; Lee, S.; Von Allmen, P.; Carry, B.; Teyssier,
D.; Marston, A.; Müller, T.; Crovisier, J.; Barucci, M.
[46] Orgel, L. E.; Crick, F. H. (January 1993). “Anticipating
A.; Moreno, R. (23 January 2014). “Localized sources
an RNA world. Some past speculations on the origin of
of water vapour on the dwarf planet (1) Ceres”. Nature.
life: Where are they today?". FASEB Journal. 7 (1): 238–
505 (7484): 525–527. Bibcode:2014Natur.505..525K.
239. PMID 7678564.
doi:10.1038/nature12918. ISSN 0028-0836. PMID
[47] “Did the Early Venus Harbor Life? (Weekend Feature)". 24451541.
The Daily Galaxy. 2 June 2012. Retrieved 22 May 2016.
[62] Campins, H.; Comfort, C. M. (23 January 2014).
[48] “Was Venus once a habitable planet?". European Space “Solar system: Evaporating asteroid”. Nature. 505
Agency. 24 June 2010. Retrieved 22 May 2016. (7484): 487–488. Bibcode:2014Natur.505..487C.
doi:10.1038/505487a. PMID 24451536.
[49] Atkinson, Nancy (24 June 2010). “Was Venus once a wa-
terworld?". Universe Today. Retrieved 22 May 2016. [63] A'Hearn, Michael F.; Feldman, Paul D. (1992). “Wa-
ter vaporization on Ceres”. Icarus. 98 (1): 54–
[50] Bortman, Henry (26 August 2004). “Was Venus Alive? 60. Bibcode:1992Icar...98...54A. doi:10.1016/0019-
'The Signs are Probably There'". Space.com. Retrieved 1035(92)90206-M.
22 May 2016.
[64] Duffy, Alan (15 June 2015). “What on Ceres are those
[51] Ojha, L.; Wilhelm, M. B.; Murchie, S. L.; McEwen, A. bright spots?". Cosmos.
S.; Wray, J. J.; Hanley, J.; Massé, M.; Chojnacki, M.
(2015). “Spectral evidence for hydrated salts in recurring [65] Rivkin, Andrew (21 July 2015). “Dawn at Ceres: A haze
slope lineae on Mars”. Nature Geoscience. 8: 829–832. in Occator crater?". The Planetary Society. Retrieved 24
Bibcode:2015NatGe...8..829O. doi:10.1038/ngeo2546. July 2015.

[52] “Top 10 Places To Find Alien Life : Discovery News”. [66] O'Neill, Ian (5 March 2009). “Life on Ceres: Could the
News.discovery.com. 8 June 2010. Retrieved 13 June Dwarf Planet be the Root of Panspermia”. Universe To-
2012. day. Retrieved 30 January 2012.

[53] Baldwin, Emily (26 April 2012). “Lichen survives harsh [67] Catling, David C. (2013). Astrobiology: A Very Short
Mars environment”. Skymania News. Retrieved 27 April Introduction. Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 99.
2012. ISBN 0-19-958645-4.
 13

[68] Boyle, Alan (22 January 2014). “Is There Life on Ceres? [84] “Scientists Find Evidence for “Great Lake” on Europa and
Dwarf Planet Spews Water Vapor”. NBC. Retrieved 10 Potential New Habitat for Life”. The University of Texas
February 2015. at Austin. 16 November 2011.

[69] Ponnamperuma, Cyril; Molton, Peter (January 1973). [85] Cook, Jia-Rui C. (11 December 2013). “Clay-Like Min-
“The prospect of life on Jupiter”. Space Life Sci- erals Found on Icy Crust of Europa”. NASA. Retrieved 11
ences. 4 (1): 32–44. Bibcode:1973SLSci...4...32P. December 2013.
doi:10.1007/BF02626340.
[86] Wall, Mike (5 March 2014). “NASA hopes to launch
[70] Irwin, Louis Neal; Schulze-Makuch, Dirk ambitious mission to icy Jupiter moon”. Space.com. Re-
(June 2001). “Assessing the Plausibility of trieved 15 April 2014.
Life on Other Worlds”. Astrobiology. 1
(2): 143–160. Bibcode:2001AsBio...1..143I. [87] Clark, Stephen (14 March 2014). “Economics, water
doi:10.1089/153110701753198918. PMID 12467118. plumes to drive Europa mission study”. Spaceflight Now.
Retrieved 15 April 2014.
[71] Dyches, Preston; Brown, Dwayne (12 May 2015).
“NASA Research Reveals Europa’s Mystery Dark Mate- [88] Coustenis, A.; et al. (March 2009). “TandEM:
rial Could Be Sea Salt”. NASA. Retrieved 12 May 2015. Titan and Enceladus mission”. Experimental Astron-
omy. 23 (3): 893–946. Bibcode:2009ExA....23..893C.
[72] “NASA’s Hubble Observations Suggest Underground
doi:10.1007/s10686-008-9103-z.
Ocean on Jupiter’s Largest Moon”. NASA News. 12
March 2015. Retrieved 15 March 2015. [89] Lovett, Richard A. (31 May 2011). “Enceladus
[73] “Jupiter moon Ganymede could have ocean with more wa- named sweetest spot for alien life”. Nature. Nature.
ter than Earth – NASA”. Russia Today (RT). 13 March doi:10.1038/news.2011.337. Retrieved 3 June 2011.
2015. Retrieved 13 March 2015. [90] Than, Ker (13 September 2005). “Scientists Reconsider
[74] Clavin, Whitney (1 May 2014). “Ganymede May Harbor Habitability of Saturn’s Moon”. Space.com.
'Club Sandwich' of Oceans and Ice”. NASA. Jet Propul-
[91] Britt, Robert Roy (28 July 2006). “Lakes Found on Sat-
sion Laboratory. Retrieved 1 May 2014.
urn’s Moon Titan”. Space.com.
[75] Vance, Steve; Bouffard, Mathieu; Choukroun, Mathieu;
Sotina, Christophe (12 April 2014). “Ganymede’s in- [92] “Lakes on Titan, Full-Res: PIA08630”. 24 July 2006.
ternal structure including thermodynamics of magnesium [93] “What is Consuming Hydrogen and Acetylene on Titan?".
sulfate oceans in contact with ice”. Planetary and Space NASA/JPL. 2010. Archived from the original on 29 June
Science. 96: 62–70. Bibcode:2014P&SS...96...62V. 2011. Retrieved 6 June 2010.
doi:10.1016/j.pss.2014.03.011. Retrieved 2 May 2014.
[94] Strobel, Darrell F. (2010). “Molecular hydrogen in
[76] “Video (00:51) – Jupiter’s 'Club Sandwich' Moon”.
Titan’s atmosphere: Implications of the measured tro-
NASA. 1 May 2014. Retrieved 2 May 2014.
pospheric and thermospheric mole fractions”. Icarus.
[77] Chang, Kenneth (12 March 2015). “Suddenly, It Seems, 208 (2): 878–886. Bibcode:2010Icar..208..878S.
Water Is Everywhere in Solar System”. New York Times. doi:10.1016/j.icarus.2010.03.003.
Retrieved 12 March 2015.
[95] McKay, C. P.; Smith, H. D. (2005). “Possi-
[78] Kuskov, O. L.; Kronrod, V. A. (2005). “In- bilities for methanogenic life in liquid methane
ternal structure of Europa and Callisto”. Icarus. on the surface of Titan”. Icarus. 178 (1):
177 (2): 550–369. Bibcode:2005Icar..177..550K. 274–276. Bibcode:2005Icar..178..274M.
doi:10.1016/j.icarus.2005.04.014. doi:10.1016/j.icarus.2005.05.018.

[79] Showman, Adam P.; Malhotra, Renu (1999). “The [96] Hoyle, Fred (1982). Evolution from Space (The Omni Lec-
Galilean Satellites” (PDF). Science. 286 (5437): 77–84. ture) and Other Papers on the Origin of Life. Enslow. pp.
doi:10.1126/science.286.5437.77. PMID 10506564. 27–28. ISBN 0-89490-083-8.
Hoyle, Fred; Wickramasinghe, Chandra (1984). Evolu-
[80] Hsiao, Eric (2004). “Possibility of Life on Europa”
tion from Space: A Theory of Cosmic Creationism. Simon
(PDF). University of Victoria.
& Schuster. ISBN 0-671-49263-2.
[81] Friedman, Louis (14 December 2005). “Projects: Europa
[97] Hoyle, Fred (1985). Living Comets. Cardiff: University
Mission Campaign”. The Planetary Society. Archived
College, Cardiff Press.
from the original on 11 August 2011. Retrieved 8 August
2011. [98] Wickramasinghe, Chandra (June 2011). “Viva Pansper-
[82] Atkinson, Nancy (2009). “Europa Capable of Support- mia”. The Observatory.
ing Life, Scientist Says”. Universe Today. Retrieved 18
[99] Wesson, P (2010). “Panspermia, Past and Present: Astro-
August 2011.
physical and Biophysical Conditions for the Dissemina-
[83] Plait, Phil (17 November 2011). “Huge lakes of water tion of Life in Space”. Sp. Sci.Rev. 1–4. 156: 239–252.
may exist under Europa’s ice”. Discover. Bad Astronomy arXiv:1011.0101 . Bibcode:2010SSRv..156..239W.
Blog. doi:10.1007/s11214-010-9671-x.
 14 9 REFERENCES

[100] Hussmann, Hauke; Sohl, Frank; Spohn, Tilman 2016 Astrobiology Field Laboratory”. Astrobiol-
(November 2006). “Subsurface oceans and deep ogy. 7 (4): 545–577. Bibcode:2007AsBio...7..545B.
interiors of medium-sized outer planet satellites doi:10.1089/ast.2007.0153. PMID 17723090. Retrieved
and large trans-neptunian objects” (PDF). Icarus. 20 July 2009.
185 (1): 258–273. Bibcode:2006Icar..185..258H.
doi:10.1016/j.icarus.2006.06.005. [112] “ExoMars rover”. ESA. Retrieved 14 April 2014.

[101] Choi, Charles Q. “The Chance for Life on Io”. Retrieved [113] Berger, Brian (2005). “Exclusive: NASA Researchers
2013-05-25. Claim Evidence of Present Life on Mars”.

[102] Schneider, Jean (10 September 2011). “Interactive Extra- [114] “NASA denies Mars life reports”. spacetoday.net. 2005.
solar Planets Catalog”. The Extrasolar Planets Ency- [115] Spotts, Peter N. (28 February 2005). “Sea boosts hope
clopaedia. Retrieved 30 January 2012. of finding signs of life on Mars”. The Christian Science
[103] Crenson, Matt (6 August 2006). “Experts: Little Evi- Monitor. Retrieved 18 December 2006.
dence of Life on Mars”. Associated Press. Archived from [116] Chow, Dennis (22 July 2011). “NASA’s Next Mars Rover
the original on 16 April 2011. Retrieved 8 March 2011. to Land at Huge Gale Crater”. Space.com. Retrieved 22
[104] McKay, David S.; Gibson, Everett K., Jr.; Thomas- July 2011.
Keprta, Kathie L.; Vali, Hojatollah; Romanek, Christo- [117] Amos, Jonathan (22 July 2011). “Mars rover aims for
pher S.; et al. (August 1996). “Search for deep crater”. BBC News. Retrieved 22 July 2011.
Past Life on Mars: Possible Relic Biogenic Ac-
tivity in Martian Meteorite ALH84001”. Science. [118] Glaser, Linda (27 January 2015). “Introducing: The Carl
273 (5277): 924–930. Bibcode:1996Sci...273..924M. Sagan Institute”. Archived from the original on 28 April
doi:10.1126/science.273.5277.924. PMID 8688069. 2015. Retrieved 11 May 2015.

[105] McKay, David S.; Thomas-Keprta, Kathy L.; Clemett, Si- [119] “Carl Sagan Institute – Research”. May 2015. Retrieved
mon J.; Gibson, Everett K., Jr.; Spencer, Lauren; Went- 11 May 2015.
worth, Susan J. (August 2009). “Life on Mars: New
Evidence from Martian Meteorites”. Proceedings of the [120] Cofield, Calla (30 March 2015). “Catalog of Earth Mi-
SPIE. 7441. 744102. Bibcode:2009SPIE.7441E..02M. crobes Could Help Find Alien Life”. Space.com. Re-
doi:10.1117/12.832317. trieved 11 May 2015.

[106] Webster, Guy (27 February 2014). “NASA Scientists [121] Callahan, M.P.; Smith, K.E.; Cleaves, H.J.; Ruzica, J.;
Find Evidence of Water in Meteorite, Reviving Debate Stern, J.C.; Glavin, D.P.; House, C.H.; Dworkin, J.P.
Over Life on Mars”. NASA. Retrieved 27 February 2014. (11 August 2011). “Carbonaceous meteorites contain
a wide range of extraterrestrial nucleobases”. PNAS.
[107] White, Lauren M.; Gibson, Everett K.; Thomnas- doi:10.1073/pnas.1106493108. Retrieved 15 August
Keprta, Kathie L.; Clemett, Simon J.; McKay, 2011.
David (19 February 2014). “Putative Indigenous
Carbon-Bearing Alteration Features in Martian [122] Steigerwald, John (8 August 2011). “NASA Researchers:
Meteorite Yamato 000593”. Astrobiology. 14 DNA Building Blocks Can Be Made in Space”. NASA.
(2): 170–181. Bibcode:2014AsBio..14..170W. Retrieved 10 August 2011.
doi:10.1089/ast.2011.0733. Retrieved 27 February [123] “DNA Building Blocks Can Be Made in Space, NASA
2014. Evidence Suggests”. ScienceDaily. 9 August 2011. Re-
[108] Gannon, Megan (28 February 2014). “Mars Meteorite trieved 9 August 2011.
with Odd 'Tunnels’ & 'Spheres’ Revives Debate Over An- [124] Chow, Denise (26 October 2011). “Discovery: Cosmic
cient Martian Life”. Space.com. Retrieved 28 February Dust Contains Organic Matter from Stars”. Space.com.
2014. Retrieved 26 October 2011.
[109] Chambers, Paul (1999). Life on Mars; The Complete [125] “Astronomers Discover Complex Organic Matter Exists
Story. London: Blandford. ISBN 0-7137-2747-0. Throughout the Universe”. ScienceDaily. 26 October
[110] Klein, Harold P.; Levin, Gilbert V.; Levin, Gilbert V.; 2011. Retrieved 27 October 2011.
Oyama, Vance I.; Lederberg, Joshua; Rich, Alexander; [126] Kwok, Sun; Zhang, Yong (26 October 2011). “Mixed
Hubbard, Jerry S.; Hobby, George L.; Straat, Patricia A.; aromatic–aliphatic organic nanoparticles as carriers
Berdahl, Bonnie J.; Carle, Glenn C.; Brown, Frederick of unidentified infrared emission features”. Nature.
S.; Johnson, Richard D. (1 October 1976). “The Viking 479 (7371): 80–3. Bibcode:2011Natur.479...80K.
Biological Investigation: Preliminary Results”. Science. doi:10.1038/nature10542. PMID 22031328.
194 (4260): 99–105. Bibcode:1976Sci...194...99K.
doi:10.1126/science.194.4260.99. PMID 17793090. Re- [127] Than, Ker (29 August 2012). “Sugar Found In Space”.
trieved 15 August 2008. National Geographic. Retrieved 31 August 2012.

[111] Beegle, Luther W.; Wilson, Michael G.; Abilleira, [128] “Sweet! Astronomers spot sugar molecule near star”. As-
Fernando; Jordan, James F.; Wilson, Gregory R. sociated Press. 29 August 2012. Retrieved 31 August
(August 2007). “A Concept for NASA’s Mars 2012.
 15

[129] Jørgensen, Jes K.; Favre, Cécile; Bisschop, Suzanne E.; arXiv:1202.0903 . Bibcode:2012Natur.481..167C.
Bourke, Tyler L.; van Dishoeck, Ewine F.; Schmalzl, doi:10.1038/nature10684. PMID 22237108.
Markus (September 2012). “Detection of the sim-
plest sugar, glycolaldehyde, in a solar-type protostar [143] Sanders, R. (4 November 2013). “Astronomers an-
with ALMA” (PDF). The Astrophysical Journal Let- swer key question: How common are habitable planets?".
ters. 757 (1). L4. Bibcode:2012ApJ...757L...4J. newscenter.berkeley.edu.
doi:10.1088/2041-8205/757/1/L4.
[144] Petigura, E. A.; Howard, A. W.; Marcy, G. W.
[130] Schenkel, Peter (May 2006). “SETI Requires a Skeptical (2013). “Prevalence of Earth-size planets orbit-
Reappraisal”. Skeptical Inquirer. Retrieved 28 June 2009. ing Sun-like stars”. Proceedings of the National
Academy of Sciences. 110 (48): 19273–19278.
[131] Moldwin, Mark (November 2004). “Why SETI is science
and UFOlogy is not”. Skeptical Inquirer. Archived from arXiv:1311.6806 . Bibcode:2013PNAS..11019273P.
the original on 2009-03-13. doi:10.1073/pnas.1319909110. PMC 3845182 . PMID
24191033.
[132] “The Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) in the
Optical Spectrum”. The Columbus Optical SETI Obser- [145] Strigari, L. E.; Barnabè, M.; Marshall, P. J.; Blandford,
vatory. R. D. (2012). “Nomads of the Galaxy”. Monthly Notices
of the Royal Astronomical Society. 423 (2): 1856–1865.
[133] Whitmire, Daniel P.; Wright, David P. (April 1980). arXiv:1201.2687 . Bibcode:2012MNRAS.423.1856S.
“Nuclear waste spectrum as evidence of technological doi:10.1111/j.1365-2966.2012.21009.x. estimates 700
extraterrestrial civilizations”. Icarus. 42 (1): 149– objects >10−6 solar masses (roughly the mass of Mars)
156. Bibcode:1980Icar...42..149W. doi:10.1016/0019- per main-sequence star between 0.08 and 1 Solar mass,
1035(80)90253-5. of which there are billions in the Milky Way.
[134] “Discovery of OGLE 2005-BLG-390Lb, the first cool
[146] Chang, Kenneth (24 August 2016). “One Star Over, a
rocky/icy exoplanet”. IAP.fr. 25 January 2006.
Planet That Might Be Another Earth”. The New York
[135] Than, Ker (24 April 2007). “Major Discovery: New Times. Retrieved 4 September 2016.
Planet Could Harbor Water and Life”. Space.com.
[147] “DENIS-P J082303.1-491201 b”. Caltech. Retrieved 8
[136] Wall, Mike (4 April 2012). “NASA Extends Planet- March 2014.
Hunting Kepler Mission Through 2016”. Space.com.
[148] Sahlmann, J.; Lazorenko, P. F.; Ségransan, D.; Martín,
[137] “NASA – Kepler”. Archived from the original on 5 E. L.; Queloz, D.; Mayor, M.; Udry, S. (August 2013).
November 2013. Retrieved 4 November 2013. “Astrometric orbit of a low-mass companion to an ul-
tracool dwarf”. Astronomy & Astrophysics. 556: 133.
[138] Harrington, J. D.; Johnson, M. (4 November 2013).
“NASA Kepler Results Usher in a New Era of Astron- arXiv:1306.3225 . Bibcode:2013A&A...556A.133S.
omy”. doi:10.1051/0004-6361/201321871.

[139] Tenenbaum, P.; Jenkins, J. M.; Seader, S.; Burke, C. [149] “Chapter 3 — Philosophy: “Solving the Drake Equation”.
J.; Christiansen, J. L.; Rowe, J. F.; Caldwell, D. A.; SETI League. December 2002. Retrieved 24 July 2015.
Clarke, B. D.; Li, J.; Quintana, E. V.; Smith, J. C.;
Thompson, S. E.; Twicken, J. D.; Borucki, W. J.; [150] Burchell, M. J. (2006). “W(h)ither the Drake
Batalha, N. M.; Cote, M. T.; Haas, M. R.; Hunter, equation?". International Journal of Astrobiology.
R. C.; Sanderfer, D. T.; Girouard, F. R.; Hall, J. R.; 5 (3): 243–250. Bibcode:2006IJAsB...5..243B.
Ibrahim, K.; Klaus, T. C.; McCauliff, S. D.; Middour, doi:10.1017/S1473550406003107.
C. K.; Sabale, A.; Uddin, A. K.; Wohler, B.; Bar-
clay, T.; Still, M. (2013). “Detection of Potential Tran- [151] Aguirre, L. (1 July 2008). “The Drake Equation”. Nova
sit Signals in the First 12 Quarters of Kepler Mission ScienceNow. PBS. Retrieved 7 March 2010.
Data”. The Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series. 206:
[152] Cohen, Jack; Stewart, Ian (2002). “Chapter 6: What does
5. arXiv:1212.2915 . Bibcode:2013ApJS..206....5T. a Martian look like?". Evolving the Alien: The Science of
doi:10.1088/0067-0049/206/1/5. Extraterrestrial Life. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley and Sons.
[140] “My God, it’s full of planets! They should have sent a ISBN 0-09-187927-2.
poet.” (Press release). Planetary Habitability Laboratory,
[153] Temming, M. (18 July 2014). “How many galaxies are
University of Puerto Rico at Arecibo. 3 January 2012.
there in the universe?". Sky & Telescope. Retrieved 17
[141] Santerne, A.; Díaz, R. F.; Almenara, J.-M.; Lethuillier, December 2015.
A.; Deleuil, M.; Moutou, C. (2013). “Astrophysical false
positives in exoplanet transit surveys: Why do we need [154] Marcy, G.; Butler, R.; Fischer, D.; et al. (2005).
“Observed Properties of Exoplanets: Masses, Or-
bright stars?". arXiv:1310.2133 [astro-ph.EP].
bits and Metallicities”. Progress of Theoretical
[142] Cassan, A.; et al. (11 January 2012). “One or more Physics Supplement. 158: 24–42. arXiv:astro-
bound planets per Milky Way star from microlens- ph/0505003 . Bibcode:2005PThPS.158...24M.
ing observations”. Nature. 481 (7380): 167–169. doi:10.1143/PTPS.158.24.
 16 10 FURTHER READING

[155] Swift, Jonathan J.; Johnson, John Asher; Morton, [171] Ailleris, Philippe (January–February 2011). “The lure of
Timothy D.; Crepp, Justin R.; Montet, Benjamin local SETI: Fifty years of field experiments”. Acta Astro-
T.; et al. (January 2013). “Characterizing the nautica. 68 (1–2): 2–15. Bibcode:2011AcAau..68....2A.
Cool KOIs. IV. Kepler-32 as a Prototype for the doi:10.1016/j.actaastro.2009.12.011.
Formation of Compact Planetary Systems throughout
the Galaxy”. The Astrophysical Journal. 764 (1). [172] “LECTURE 4: MODERN THOUGHTS ON EX-
105. arXiv:1301.0023 . Bibcode:2013ApJ...764..105S. TRATERRESTRIAL LIFE”. The University of Antarc-
doi:10.1088/0004-637X/764/1/105. tica. Retrieved 25 July 2015.

[156] “100 Billion Alien Planets Fill Our Milky Way Galaxy: [173] Ward, Peter; Brownlee, Donald (2000). Rare Earth: Why
Study”. Space.com. 2 January 2013. Archived from the Complex Life is Uncommon in the Universe. Copernicus.
original on 3 January 2013. Retrieved 10 March 2016. Bibcode:2000rewc.book.....W. ISBN 978-0-387-98701-
9.
[157] “Alien Planets Revealed”. Nova. Season 41. Episode 10.
8 January 2014. Event occurs at 50:56. [174] “Hawking warns over alien beings”. BBC News. 25 April
2010. Retrieved 2 May 2010.
[158] Overbye, Dennis (3 August 2015). “The Flip Side of Op-
timism About Life on Other Planets”. New York Times. [175] Diamond, Jared M. (2006). “Chapter 12”. The Third
Retrieved 29 October 2015. Chimpanzee: The Evolution and Future of the Human An-
imal. Harper Perennial. ISBN 978-0-06-084550-6.
[159] “Who discovered that the Sun was a Star?". Stanford Solar
Center. [176] Larson, Phil (5 November 2011). “Searching for ET, But
No Evidence Yet”. White House. Retrieved 6 November
[160] Crowe, Michael J. (1999). The Extraterrestrial Life De-
2011.
bate, 1750–1900. Courier Dover Publications. ISBN 0-
486-40675-X. [177] Atkinson, Nancy (5 November 2011). “No Alien Visits
[161] Wiker, Benjamin D. (4 November 2002). “Alien Ideas: or UFO Coverups, White House Says”. UniverseToday.
Christianity and the Search for Extraterrestrial Life”. Cri- Retrieved 6 November 2011.
sis Magazine. Archived from the original on 10 February
[178] “Special Issue: Exoplanets”. Science. 3 May 2013. Re-
2003.
trieved 18 May 2013.
[162] Irwin, Robert (2003). The Arabian Nights: A Companion.
Tauris Parke Paperbacks. p. 204 & 209. ISBN 1-86064- [179] Chang, Kenneth (17 April 2014). “Scientists Find an
983-1. 'Earth Twin', or Maybe a Cousin”. New York Times.

[163] de Fontenelle, Bernard le Bovier (1990). Conversations [180] Borenstein, Seth (13 February 2015). “Should We Call
on the Plurality of Worlds. trans. H. A. Hargreaves. Uni- the Cosmos Seeking ET? Or Is That Risky?". The New
versity of California Press. ISBN 978-0-520-91058-4. York Times. Associated Press. Archived from the original
on 14 February 2015.
[164] “Flammarion, (Nicolas) Camille (1842–1925)". The In-
ternet Encyclopedia of Science. [181] Ghosh, Pallab (12 February 2015). “Scientist: 'Try to
contact aliens’". BBC News. Retrieved 12 February 2015.
[165] “Giordano Bruno: On the Infinite Universe and Worlds
(De l'Infinito Universo et Mondi) Introductory Epistle: [182] “Regarding Messaging To Extraterrestrial Intelligence
Argument of the Third Dialogue”. Archived from the (METI) / Active Searches For Extraterrestrial Intelligence
original on 13 October 2014. Retrieved 4 October 2014. (Active SETI)". University of California, Berkeley. 13
February 2015. Retrieved 14 February 2015.
[166] “Rheita.htm”. cosmovisions.com.
[183] Katz, Gregory (20 July 2015). “Searching for ET: Hawk-
[167] Evans, J. E.; Maunder, E. W. (June 1903). “Experi-
ing to look for extraterrestrial life”. Excite!. Associated
ments as to the actuality of the “Canals” observed on
Press. Retrieved 20 July 2015.
Mars”. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical So-
ciety. 63: 488–499. Bibcode:1903MNRAS..63..488E.
doi:10.1093/mnras/63.8.488.

[168] Wallace, Alfred Russel (1907). Is Mars Habitable? A Crit-

10 Further reading
ical Examination of Professor Lowell’s Book “Mars and
Its Canals,” With an Alternative Explanation. London: • Baird, John C. (1987). The Inner Limits of Outer
Macmillan. OCLC 8257449. Space: A Psychologist Critiques Our Efforts to Com-
municate With Extraterrestrial Beings. Hanover:
[169] Chambers, Paul (1999). Life on Mars; The Complete
University Press of New England. ISBN 0-87451-
Story. London: Blandford. ISBN 0-7137-2747-0.
406-1.
[170] Cross, Anne (2004). “The Flexibility of Sci-
entific Rhetoric: A Case Study of UFO Re- • Cohen, Jack; Stewart, Ian (2002). Evolving the
searchers”. Qualitiative Sociology. 27 (1): 3–34. Alien: The Science of Extraterrestrial Life. Ebury
doi:10.1023/B:QUAS.0000015542.28438.41. Press. ISBN 0-09-187927-2.
 17

• Crowe, Michael J. (1986). The Extraterrestrial Life • Tumminia, Diana G. (2007). Alien Worlds – Social
Debate, 1750–1900. Cambridge. ISBN 0-521- and Religious Dimensions of Extraterrestrial Contact.
26305-0. Syracuse: Syracuse University Press. ISBN 978-0-
8156-0858-5.
• Crowe, Michael J. (2008). The extraterrestrial life
debate Antiquity to 1915: A Source Book. University
of Notre Dame Press. ISBN 0-268-02368-9.
11 External links
• Dick, Steven J. (1984). Plurality of Worlds: The
Extraterrestrial Life Debate from Democratis to Kant. • “Is it true that there could be intelligent life out
Cambridge. there?". physics.org. Retrieved 2 November 2012.
• Dick, Steven J. (1996). The Biological Universe: • Minerals and the Origins of Life (Robert Hazen,
The Twentieth Century Extraterrestrial Life Debate NASA) (video, 60m, April 2014).
and the Limits of Science. Cambridge. ISBN 0-521-
34326-7. • “Search for Life in the Universe” (NASA) (video,
87m, 14 July 2014).
• Dick, Steven J. (2001). Life on Other Worlds: The
20th Century Extraterrestrial Life Debate. Cam-
bridge. ISBN 0-521-79912-0.
• Dick, Steven J.; Strick, James E. (2004). The Living
Universe: NASA And the Development of Astrobiol-
ogy. Rutgers. ISBN 0-8135-3447-X.
• Fasan, Ernst (1970). Relations with alien intelli-
gences – the scientific basis of metalaw. Berlin:
Berlin Verlag.
• Goldsmith, Donald (1997). The Hunt for Life on
Mars. New York: A Dutton Book. ISBN 0-525-
94336-6.
• Grinspoon, David (2003). Lonely Planets: The Nat-
ural Philosophy of Alien Life. HarperCollins. ISBN
0-06-018540-6.
• Lemnick, Michael T. (1998). Other Worlds: The
Search for Life in the Universe. New York: A
Touchstone Book.
• Michaud, Michael (2006). Contact with Alien Civ-
ilizations – Our Hopes and Fears about Encounter-
ing Extraterrestrials. Berlin: Springer. ISBN 0-387-
28598-9.
• Pickover, Cliff (2003). The Science of Aliens. New
York: Basic Books. ISBN 0-465-07315-8.
• Roth, Christopher F. (2005). Debbora Battaglia,
ed. Ufology as Anthropology: Race, Extraterrestri-
als, and the Occult. E.T. Culture: Anthropology in
Outerspaces. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.
• Sagan, Carl; Shklovskii, I. S. (1966). Intelligent Life
in the Universe. Random House.
• Sagan, Carl (1973). Communication with Extrater-
restrial Intelligence. MIT Press. ISBN 0-262-
19106-7.
• Ward, Peter D. (2005). Life as we do not know it-the
NASA search for (and synthesis of) alien life. New
York: Viking. ISBN 0-670-03458-4.
18 12 TEXT AND IMAGE SOURCES, CONTRIBUTORS, AND LICENSES

12 Text and image sources, contributors, and licenses

12.1 Text
• Extraterrestrial life Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extraterrestrial_life?oldid=774706339 Contributors: Damian Yerrick,
Dreamyshade, Eloquence, Mav, Bryan Derksen, Robert Merkel, Zundark, The Anome, Ed Poor, TomCerul, Graft, Edward, Patrick, In-
frogmation, Bewildebeast, Lexor, Kku, Ixfd64, Gdvorsky, Skysmith, Paul A, Minesweeper, Alfio, Kosebamse, Tregoweth, Ahoerstemeier,
Cyp, JWSchmidt, BigFatBuddha, Darkwind, Julesd, Glenn, Andres, Corixidae, Mxn, Guaka, Timwi, RickK, WhisperToMe, Steinsky,
Nv8200pa, Martinphi, Thue, Earthsound, Wetman, Proteus, Johnleemk, PuzzletChung, Riddley, Phil Boswell, Nufy8, Moriori, Tlog-
mer, Goethean, Romanm, Modulatum, Lowellian, PedroPVZ, Rursus, SchmuckyTheCat, Ojigiri~enwiki, Jondel, Rasmus Faber, Hadal,
Mushroom, Lupo, HaeB, Dina, Tea2min, David Gerard, Giftlite, Dbenbenn, MPF, Andromeda~enwiki, Lethe, Tom harrison, Ich, Pe-
ruvianllama, TomViza, Maha ts, Gracefool, Eequor, Glengarry, Simulcra, Gadfium, Utcursch, J~enwiki, Sonjaaa, Antandrus, Beland,
OverlordQ, Robert Brockway, Mark5677, Jossi, Redroach, Latitude0116, Balcer, Kevin B12, Mysidia, Phil1988, Icairns, Sam Hoce-
var, Arcturus, KeithTyler, Joyous!, Damieng, Adashiel, Valmi, Jimaginator, Eep², Mike Rosoft, Natrij, Freakofnurture, JTN, Gimmick
Account, Discospinster, Rich Farmbrough, Rhobite, Cacycle, Vsmith, ArnoldReinhold, Dave souza, LindsayH, Antaeus Feldspar, Dbach-
mann, Mani1, Grutter, SpookyMulder, Jackqu7, Bender235, MisterBadIdea, Cyclopia, Kaisershatner, Ben Standeven, Pedant, Brian0918,
RJHall, CanisRufus, Jpittman, MBisanz, El C, Shrike, Lycurgus, Huntster, Nonpareility, Kwamikagami, RoyBoy, EurekaLott, Dustinasby,
Bastique, Bobo192, Dystopos, Enric Naval, Viriditas, GTubio, Rbj, Angie Y., Mytildebang, Jag123, Forteanajones, La goutte de pluie, Ac-
jelen, Pierre2012, John Fader, Polylerus, Gsklee, Mareino, OGoncho, Storm Rider, Zachlipton, Alansohn, Coma28, Transfinite, Blahma,
Neitram, 119, Arthena, Visviva, Keolah, Andrewpmk, Riana, AzaToth, Hinotori, James.england, Fritzpoll, Daniel.inform, Alex '05, Cjnm,
Mysdaao, Mrestko, DreamGuy, Wtmitchell, Velella, Max rspct, Docboat, Sudachi, Jesvane, LFaraone, Bsadowski1, Sfacets, Computerjoe,
Kusma, Arthur Warrington Thomas, LukeSurl, Kazvorpal, Ceyockey, Centauri, BerserkerBen, Duke33, Njk, Alex.g, WilliamKF, Mick-
West, Angr, Lincspoacher, Roboshed, OwenX, Woohookitty, TigerShark, Etacar11, Molloy, Pinball22, Mathmo, Jersyko, StradivariusTV,
Urod, WadeSimMiser, Jeff3000, MONGO, Moormand, Oreckel, Dmol, Tomlillis, Grika, Optichan, KFan II, Norro, HollyI, CharlesC,
Waldir, Zzyzx11, Wayward, Dromedary, Essjay, MarcoTolo, Mandarax, Nivedh, Ashmoo, Graham87, Marskell, WBardwin, Magister
Mathematicae, V8rik, BD2412, MikeDockery, OGRastamon, FreplySpang, Quantum bird, Kane5187, Ciroa, Kafuffle, Ketiltrout, Sjö,
Drbogdan, Sjakkalle, Rjwilmsi, Bremen, Jake Wartenberg, Panoptical, Hiberniantears, Linuxbeak, JHMM13, Adamacious, Stardust8212,
Seraphimblade, Mred64, Ligulem, Bubba73, Ivan.Romero~enwiki, Bhadani, Ttwaring, Yamamoto Ichiro, Scorpionman, FayssalF, Fal-
phin, Lostsocks, Ian Pitchford, SchuminWeb, Opeth, Tom-b, Petruchi41, Doc glasgow, Nihiltres, JdforresterBot, Crazycomputers, Harmil,
Bitoffish, MacRusgail, Rune.welsh, RexNL, Wctaiwan, Gurch, Str1977, KFP, Alphachimp, Malhonen, Bmicomp, LeCire~enwiki, Srl-
effler, Wrightbus, Kri, Spencerk, Startaq, Butros, Nicholasink, Lord Patrick, Deyyaz, Visor, HKT, GangofOne, Jared Preston, DVdm,
Mhking, Antiuser, Bgwhite, Sheean, Hall Monitor, Bomb319, Gwernol, Elfguy, UkPaolo, Theymos, Neitherday, Sceptre, Blightsoot,
Stan2525, Rtkat3, Pip2andahalf, Phantomsteve, RussBot, Peoplesunionpro, WritersCramp, Muchness, WAvegetarian, Witan, Zafirob-
lue05, Chris Capoccia, SpuriousQ, Raquel Baranow, Devahn58, BillMasen, Varenius, Stephenb, Cate, Gaius Cornelius, Rsrikanth05, Bovi-
neone, Varnav, Wimt, Cunado19, Shanel, NawlinWiki, Vyran, Wiki alf, Erielhonan, Jaxl, Djadek, Kvn8907, Alisha Gergett, Mersenne, In-
trogressive, RazorICE, Bmdavll, Lykaestria, Anetode, Banes, Moe Epsilon, Truthdowser, MSJapan, Phaleux, Rdl381, Dbfirs, Adreamsoul,
Mysid, Kortoso, Barnabypage, Csobankai Aladar, Elkman, Aaronb1215, Ignitus, Alpha 4615, Bantosh, Nick123, Wknight94, Elysian-
fields, DocXango, Deeday-UK, Jangam, Poleary, 2over0, Rudrasharman, Encephalon, Ageekgal, Knotnic, Theda, Closedmouth, Rpvdk,
Arthur Rubin, Pb30, Josh3580, Reyk, Sultan of smoov, JQF, Saudade7, Petri Krohn, JoanneB, Peyna, Sitenl, Bagheera, Urocyon, Tyre-
nius, Nixer, Ilmari Karonen, Neoaeolian, Bluezy, Junglecat, Tzepish, NeilN, CrniBombarder!!!, DVD R W, WesleyDodds, Dragon of the
Pants, Hiddekel, Sardanaphalus, Vanka5, Attilios, Tttrung, SmackBot, Aim Here, Brammers, Dubbin, Unschool, Haymaker, Vati115, Zaz-
aban, KnowledgeOfSelf, TestPilot, Hydrogen Iodide, McGeddon, Although, TBH, C.Fred, Vald, Jacek Kendysz, Jagged 85, Watercolour,
Davewild, Dims, Jrockley, Delldot, Michaelll, Jab843, Timeshifter, Edgar181, HalfShadow, Alex earlier account, Septegram, Xaosflux,
Yamaguchi , Cuddlyopedia, Linam97, Gilliam, Portillo, Ohnoitsjamie, Hmains, Skizzik, Martial Law, Weirdoactor, Rmosler2100, Chris
the speller, Kurykh, Persian Poet Gal, Cattus, Fluri, Timneu22, Hibernian, Dlohcierekim’s sock, J. Spencer, Effer, Ai.kefu, Baa, CMacMil-
lan, MaxSem, Salmar, Zsinj, Can't sleep, clown will eat me, RyanEberhart, Jefffire, Abyssal, Kelvin Case, OrphanBot, Sephiroth BCR,
Nima Baghaei, TKD, Addshore, RedHillian, Runefurb, Khoikhoi, Soosed, Aldaron, Krich, Ianmacm, CanDo, Downtown dan seattle,
Khukri, Decltype, Bowlhover, Nakon, TedE, James McNally, John D. Croft, Richard001, Gauntlet~enwiki, Lpgeffen, Illlaaa, 44Dume,
Polonium, Junyor, WoodyWerm, Sigma 7, ElizabethFong, Bejnar, Jagg2499, Ace ETP, Thor Dockweiler, CIS, Cor anglais 16, Cast,
The undertow, SashatoBot, Vildricianus, SingCal, Producercunningham, Swatjester, Aximilli Isthill, Xerocs, Kuru, John, J 1982, Heim-
stern, Katstevens, Almkglor, Perfectblue97, JorisvS, JayMan, Tlesher, JohnWittle, IronGargoyle, Putnamehere3145, 041744, Ckatz, Ran-
domCritic, MarkSutton, Benjaminlobato, Slakr, Hvn0413, Booksworm, Nyarkni, NJMauthor, George The Dragon, Dicklyon, Nephalim,
Mets501, Rtkw, Dhp1080, AdultSwim, Anoyce, Midnightblueowl, Ryulong, Purplekitty, Danilot, Dradious, H, Suthaar, Nicolharper, Shak-
ingSpirit, SimonD, Iridescent, Michaelbusch, Jason.grossman, Joseph Solis in Australia, Debeo Morium, Newone, Sjb72, Twas Now, Nub-
zor, TheBreeze, Gerfinch, LordRahl, Beno1000, CapitalR, DavidOaks, Majora4, Courcelles, Cheeesemonger, Matlefebvre20, PaddyM,
Tawkerbot2, The Letter J, Gveret Tered, ChrisCork, TheFloydman, JForget, MrPeabody, Brainbark, JF Mephisto, CmdrObot, Jargon,
Ben groulx, Tobes00, Dycedarg, Calibanu, Falconfly, Makeemlighter, Ruslik0, Rasd, KnightLago, Benwildeboer, Evan7257, Dgw, N2e,
AshLin, Chmee2, Moreschi, El sand bag57, QuinnJL, Rgonsalv, Dan Fuhry, MrFish, Ebonize christian, Alexignatiou~enwiki, FatBaka,
CMG, Xaman, Shanoman, Icek~enwiki, Slazenger, Cydebot, Shitmaster 5, Ik the Toaster, Bluecurio, Steel, Michaelas10, Gogo Dodo,
Jkokavec, Crowish, Flowerpotman, Daniel J. Leivick, Mycroft.Holmes, Gilabarak, Karafias, Tawkerbot4, FDV, Itsfun, Robertinventor,
Vanwiek, Dinnerbone, Garik, Har057, Protious, SpK, Omicronpersei8, Shashankgupta, JodyB, Arb, UberScienceNerd, Nol888, NadirAli,
Casliber, Epbr123, Casual Moose, Pajz, Marbie, Pstanton, Aaron Pelzer, Indef blocked user 001, PhilMacdonald, Ucanlookitup, Andyj-
smith, 24fan24, Headbomb, Simeon H, Rugadh, Marek69, Sean7phil, Timebender13, John254, A3RO, SGGH, Jakerake, Pmrobert49,
Kaishininjou, RickinBaltimore, Catsmoke, Eljamoquio, Mikeeg555, Whoda, Cooljuno411, FreeKresge, Ericmachmer, FreshFruitsRule,
Keyvez, Noclevername, Mmortal03, Mentifisto, Hmrox, Cyclonenim, AntiVandalBot, Majorly, Gioto, Luna Santin, Seaphoto, Opelio,
Paul from Michigan, QuiteUnusual, Prolog, TrulyUnusual.com, Edokter, Pwhitwor, TimVickers, Exteray, Electromagnet, Kevin Nelson,
Robsmyth40, Skynet1216, ARTEST4ECHO, AubreyEllenShomo, Robert A. Mitchell, Myanw, Mad Pierrot, Deadbeef, GWhitewood,
JackSparrow Ninja, Peter Harriman, JAnDbot, Xhienne, 24630, Husond, Barek, MER-C, Reduxx, Inks.LWC, Ericoides, Hodgetts, Smid-
dle, Plm209, Andonic, Kerotan, Jarkeld, Y2kcrazyjoker4, Magioladitis, Connormah, Bakilas, Pedro, Bongwarrior, VoABot II, Bruce-
Dude, James166, StudierMalMarburg, AuburnPilot, JNW, JamesBWatson, TL789, Azznrivera, Swpb, Mutableye, BobTheMad, Violent-
bob, Jim Douglas, Truancy07, Tonyfaull, Avicennasis, BrianGV, Catgut, Indon, ClovisPt, C.lettinga, Walkerlamond, Sgr927, IkonicDeath,
Ali'i, Dinohunter, BatteryIncluded, Beetfarm Louie, Tenjikuronin, Vssun, JoergenB, TehBrandon, Nikolaj Christensen, DerHexer, Hi hi
puka puka, Edward321, Saxophlute, NatureA16, Stephenchou0722, Zawarq, Kamikaze, MartinBot, BetBot~enwiki, Arjun01, Zogundar,
12.1 Text 19

Sm8900, Mitchhe 91, Thomasshaw, Deepsupport, CommonsDelinker, AlexiusHoratius, Damodar87, LittleOldMe old, Ash, AlexParky,
Ulisse0, Master of Tofu, Shellwood, J.delanoy, Sasajid, Pharaoh of the Wizards, Mattlewisthepimp, CFCF, Trusilver, ProfButler, Ville
V. Kokko, Bogey97, Hans Dunkelberg, Rhinestone K, Uncle Dick, Maurice Carbonaro, All Is One, Jesant13, Harold56, Dada124C41+,
WFinch, NerdyNSK, Ian.thomson, Darth Mike, Gzkn, Acalamari, M C Y 1008, PeterH2, TheChrisD, BrokenSphere, Pegasus1457, Kata-
laveno, Magiwand, DarkFalls, Firedraikke, McSly, SpigotMap, Ryan Postlethwaite, Enricorpg, BeŻet, Vanished User 4517, Belovedfreak,
NewEnglandYankee, Rominandreu, Rwessel, SJP, G.Batty, AliensPhD, Malerin, Biglovinb, Workofthedevil, Umair82, West109, Mets-
Fan76, Quogud, Donmarkdixon, KylieTastic, Chppxbx, Bettyboop2336, Cometstyles, Kenneth M Burke, Myrealana, Nrorres, Vanished
user 39948282, Treisijs, Rising*From*Ashes, Mirage GSM, Pdcook, Ja 62, Mwmillar, Trunkalunk, Suuperturtle, CardinalDan, Idioma-
bot, Tobynsaunders, Gueedo, Muoi, Wikieditor06, Light of Shadow, Lights, Caribbean H.Q., Char555, Deor, McNoddy~enwiki, Trea-
suryTag, A.Ou, TallNapoleon, Hersfold, Jeff G., Orthologist, AlnoktaBOT, Maghnus, Newyowker, Boooobzzz, QuackGuru, Mwamana-
tor, Philip Trueman, DoorsAjar, TXiKiBoT, Oshwah, Cosmic Latte, Convolution223, Mrkwtrs, Allbee Honnête, Jkstark, Jacob Lund-
berg, Alan Rockefeller, Technopat, Malljaja, Ann Stouter, Huwe2, Drestros power, Arnon Chaffin, Someguy1221, Cosmium, Warrush,
Supersmarty, Oxfordwang, Anna Lincoln, Cherhillsnow, Wiikipedian, Martin451, BwDraco, LeaveSleaves, Cremepuff222, Mazarin07,
Hippy-dippy, Madhero88, Discgolfrules, Tcgriffin, Jdman24, Comrade Tux, Strangerer, Falcon8765, Sardonicone, Scubasteve111, !dea4u,
Sesshomaru, SchumiChamp, Insanity Incarnate, Calvin2011, Brianga, Balderunner, Atmgnef, Uranometria, Zungaphile, Logan, Closen-
play, Planet-man828, Megasquid500, Daveh4h, Dinofang, FlyingLeopard2014, Gaelen S., Ponyo, Xzazerx, Randommelon, Dusti, Ellio-
3.14, Sonicology, Wibubba48, Ziplock74, Zephyrus67, Lemonflash, Dawn Bard, METIfan, Charsniper, JJ Da Kid, Indelible sinn, Yintan,
Tataryn, August Dominus, Crash Underride, Dinokid, AlbertHall, Rackshea, Super Sonic Sloth, Flyer22 Reborn, Radon210, Alexbrn,
RoGGe, Undead Herle King, Oxymoron83, Faradayplank, Smilesfozwood, AngelOfSadness, Lisatwo, Steven Crossin, Lightmouse, Tech-
man224, Lumentec, Nancy, Spartan-James, StaticGull, Laurentseries, Hamiltondaniel, Dust Filter, Dabomb87, Hawkesy12345678, Neo.,
Kalidasa 777, Lloydpick, Goodergrammar, Gantuya eng, Revelian, Stillwaterising, Kanonkas, Tolerancebelowzero, Sabbath73, Yaanu4,
Runn~enwiki, Hpforlife, Loren.wilton, Martarius, Sfan00 IMG, Elassint, ClueBot, Cmmmm, BlazeMaster4R3AL, Foxj, The Thing That
Should Not Be, Vikasatkin, Diazenefz, Gaia Octavia Agrippa, R000t, Shade11sayshello, Warder Alduren, Spandrawn, Ben5ive, Super-
Hamster, JTBX, Boing! said Zebedee, FractalFusion, CounterVandalismBot, Niceguyedc, Blanchardb, Fallenfromthesky, Michaplot,
Cavalryman101, Facemuncher, Btroxmysox, Ernstblumberg, Amirreza, Supergodzilla2090, Excirial, -Midorihana-, Jusdafax, Unrealpot-
boy3154, Panyd, Vimalkdwivedi, NewBeat, SpikeToronto, Brmabepo2ndof4, Fishing ko, Cenarium, Peter.C, TheRedPenOfDoom, Tnx-
man307, M.O.X, Istok, Razorflame, Redthoreau, Hoth194, Mikaey, Froogle62, Tired time, Thingg, 7, King of the World 5, Football-
fan190, Mczack26, WxHalo, Versus22, Porchcorpter, PCHS-NJROTC, Berean Hunter, Docsavage20, SoxBot III, Hattiel, Vanished user
uih38riiw4hjlsd, Youhatemeandidontcare, DumZiBoT, Cowardly Lion, BarretB, XLinkBot, Bjrcoolguy210, Tarheel95, Fastily, Pichpich,
Gnowor, Wakawaka1, CGaldi, Andrzej Kmicic, Sakura Cartelet, 68Kustom, Fullsick, Badgernet, Truthnlove, SelfQ, Herwest299, That-
guyflint, D.M. from Ukraine, Olyus, Coltonmj11, Haqqmisra, Addbot, Xp54321, Cxz111, Basilicofresco, Roentgenium111, Manwithahat,
Gravitophoton, Tcncv, Unforgiven666, Morriswa, Zellfaze, Joegriff4, Ronhjones, Hollando, CanadianLinuxUser, Bnaur, Cst17, Hugh
wiki01, MrOllie, Proxima Centauri, Woo united11, Morning277, Chamal N, Glane23, Juneretos, Lollmarofl, AnnaFrance, Quietmarc,
Theking9794, 5 albert square, Avs dps, Flump1, Jaguar65, SmartBagel, Tassedethe, Ehrenkater, DubaiTerminator, Changin history n00bs,
Tide rolls, Bfigura’s puppy, Lightbot, Totorotroll, Gail, BazzookaJoe, Phantom in ca, Quantumobserver, GiantPea, Bartledan, BlackMarlin,
Megaman en m, Alfie66, Twiggfulysmart, Wellminesthesun, Zobango, TheSuave, Yobot, Ultrasquad, Anomalieshunters, Senator Palpatine,
Fraggle81, AliDincgor, Cflm001, Legobot II, Akalvi, AdjutantRefluxSoliton, VertigoOne, Texas™, Drcocapepper13, Ningauble, Black vuh
jj, Againme, Knoital, MacTire02, Magog the Ogre, AnomieBOT, Angry bee, DoctorJoeE, Jim1138, IRP, Neko85, Zuko117, Piano non
troppo, Llebwoc, Kingpin13, Yachtsman1, Flewis, Saidaziz eng, Materialscientist, Cavemanug1001, The High Fin Sperm Whale, Bestie4,
Citation bot, UFOForum, E2eamon, Racconish, Brightgalrs, Vuerqex, Raphaelzola, Kel12189, Neurolysis, LilHelpa, The Dean Man,
Coolboyno1, Vinego, Random astronomer, Sionus, Capricorn42, Ximalas, Newzebras, Bihco, Pontificalibus, ChildofMidnight, Kmcdm,
Darkestdeath1, Grim23, Dkelly1966, Tyrol5, Mlpearc, Singster, Gap9551, Bigaireatscheese, Jamesslot3, J04n, GrouchoBot, Ataleh, Alum-
num, MrVoodooArmy, Skraddarbacken, Shirik, Zefr, Italomex, Hoifon, Mathonius, Amaury, Voltorb, Falcon189, Cailex, Mnance1975,
Heavenly Chihuahua, Lexy-lou, Shadowjams, Vanished user giiw8u4ikmfw823foinc2, Glump1, Aaron Kauppi, Jacobkailynzeeba, Erik9,
Islas93, Bwham, Griffinofwales, Minkala, BoomerAB, MrAwesomeDudePerson, The Skull Fiend, FreeKnowledgeCreator, Captain Weirdo
the Great, D10hitman, Rock4, Bobwrits, Johncamanley, Hobbit119, Raj6, Bendover61, Exchangor, Nickucla, Banshee lover, Sanpitch,
ReneVenegas95, Knubbe kub, Bobri28, Cargoking, ZOLTAN: THE gOd, Mj12cz, HJ Mitchell, Jamsam70, The One & Only Fools and
Horses~enwiki, Citation bot 1, Pizik, Dogshitface, GaussianCopula, Amplitude101, Redrose64, Cubs197, Ypna, Pinethicket, I dream of
horses, Vicenarian, Flaneursfields, Usukasslikeurmom, Juliaashford, Tom.Reding, Supreme Deliciousness, Calmer Waters, Yahia.barie,
Geogene, A8UDI, Jschnur, Jakuplutzen, Xfact, Serols, Militaryman433, BobaTyroneFett, Oooga Booga 50039, Hairy Tom, Milzmilzmilz,
SkyMachine, Iokerapid, AATroop, Chachap, Cmdahler, Trappist the monk, Ksanexx, Fuad Thahir, Tycopup, Marvinandmilo, Vrena-
tor, Suomi Finland 2009, MrX, Vancouver Outlaw, Begoon, Fmndu9acgh79q3, Lynn Wilbur, Reaper Eternal, --(Add Name Here)--,
Perrielover123, Urface24, Boucher-craig, Tbhotch, Stroppolo, TheMesquito, K602, Marie Poise, Manuron, DARTH SIDIOUS 2, Fire-
manic9, Svr21121, Davidjess, Onel5969, Mean as custard, The Fudginator, Maryjaneadams, RjwilmsiBot, Dudemister67, SpartanGreg09,
Jake576, Ilikecheeseandcereal, MyFellowAmericans234, Vcrmastr, Latinlover2010, Smd75jr, DASHBot, Bob512, ImprovingWiki, John
of Reading, Orphan Wiki, Acather96, Ghostofnemo, Immunize, Grrow, Heracles31, ScottyBerg, 333beth333, Notanoption, GoingBatty,
RA0808, JustinRussoLove, Minimac’s Clone, Icantthinkofasuitableusername, Infringement153, The Mysterious El Willstro, Nailer111,
Mr Hat 971, Wikipelli, Dcirovic, Sinalese, K6ka, WaightZer, Claytonmaner, Solomonfromfinland, Thecheesykid, Sundance218, Qwer-
tyrandom, John Cline, John Mentor, Fæ, A2soup, DalitDynamite, Mattimole, The next dimensions, Carva01, ElationAviation, Cami37,
Reve316, AnArdentReader, Aga1234567, PhreshKiid, Tylerball22, Force92i, Logexp, QEDK, Wayne Slam, David J Johnson, Litjohn,
Cit helper, 567895th, JoeSperrazza, TyA, Yotvata, Brandmeister, Coasterlover1994, Angus.hendrick, L Kensington, Societies, Senjuto,
Hell of howling, Donner60, I am beast 97, Gorvindo, EvenGreenerFish, Ego White Tray, Bill william compton, Status, Whydoyoucare555,
Himan99, ChiZeroOne, Brotherbro, Maxigorilla, Iketsi, Forever Dusk, Haloreach89, TYelliot, Oursana, Rocketrod1960, E.f.harper, Gary
Dee, Omni 98, Petrb, Grapple X, ClueBot NG, Ktmuhone, Thilot, NamlessIamnot, Lalalaa12, Giordanobrunoburning, Somedifferentstuff,
MelbourneStar, This lousy T-shirt, Prathfig, Aarishshaheen, Gilderien, Iritakamas, Marcoboelling, Luckey313, Cntras, Twillisjr, Hazhk,
D Quinn42, Kevin Gorman, Sjmantyl, Space1134, Dream of Nyx, Widr, CostaDax, Tr00rle, Caille91, MerlIwBot, Helpful Pixie Bot,
LORD CAAZE, Daviddwd, Meerta, Bibcode Bot, Nashhinton, Jeraphine Gryphon, Trunks ishida, Lowercase sigmabot, BG19bot, Kre-
nair, Silentkiller101, Billy from Bath, Meepamoop, James350z, Navhus, Qwerty1214, Sailing to Byzantium, Kangaroopower, Hallows
AG, Kaspuhler, Superyoshiw, JohnChrysostom, MusikAnimal, PercyWM, Metricopolus, Exobiologist, Purpleaye, Dan653, Petruss, Bu-
goyito, Kyurem7, Cadiomals, Olev Vinn, Wld555, BurnerHero2, RakezDurban, MordinSolus0, Awright34, Daniellelynettehardy, Mr-
Bill3, Pmhorler, Josepheous, Risingstar12, Doowop62, Gwickwire, Fcwmy, Omgdinosaurs111, Academictask, Dvq, Edonnelly527, JEN-
NATIFFANY, Achowat, Chip123456, Lashleymullins, Wer900, Dubstepallen, Anbu121, EricEnfermero, F33mason, Melodychick, Bat-
tyBot, Phinizyspalding, Sparsy, Longboardhard, Allylynn9, CrazeGUY1515, Itrollfaceumadbro, EnglishMole0615, Cyberbot II, Bigbot-
20 12 TEXT AND IMAGE SOURCES, CONTRIBUTORS, AND LICENSES

tomedgirl, The Illusive Man, ChrisGualtieri, Nick.mon, AshxRoc, Shiltsev, Slordax, EuroCarGT, Gameboy97q, Scoot4life, VoteLobster,
Illia Connell, Jmorton2222, Dannyj24, WelshMan1990, Salismasher12, Party102, Qxukhgiels, 123456jp, Stempkik3, Nuf101, Gad-
getball, Dexbot, Greggory12, TrollGlaDOS, Anandaraja, Hms1103, Webclient101, Mogism, JimmyTheRacer, TwoTwoHello, Justin-
wgaines, Lugia2453, 93, Coolbeans443, 069952497a, Me, Myself, and I are Here, Wolly123, Reatlas, Erika Leonard, Big boss170,
F6Zman, Jubjub01, TishoYanchev, FamAD123, Jamsontoast987, Melonkelon, Eyesnore, Harlem Baker Hughes, Wethar555, Uncle-
drew, Wikimee34, Doctor-professor-magnificant, Praemonitus, SamoaBot, Purple Door Door, EvergreenFir, Wagnerslove, Worst cooks
in America, DavidLeighEllis, Adspred, Kentsy, Fatum81, SchroederB, Gruekiller, Ira Bradley, LieutenantLatvia, Andymatches, Legoman
86, Eagle3399, Joppiesaus123, Fatty black man, Spoon in my bellybutton, Aambeienbeffer, NottNott, Jotknktrnfjkrtklg, Johnwatson94,
Tjbfl, Submarinefy, MagicatthemovieS, Jose.rivera143, XdoomdragonX, Billy Cuppertino, Meteor sandwich yum, Racer Omega, Fixu-
ture, Man of Steel 85, Keltonmadden, SilvestreRiseguy123, Spaghetti1033, Sofia Lucifairy, Chaya5260, Pjmiller1978, IRock123, Catch-
erStorm, Lion buisness, Rosario Berganza, Hohohoinyourbutthole, Fafnir1, Monkbot, DK0010, Ware6561, Mickeyc02, ADHDavid1,
MegaGardevoir68, CalebB21, Lagalog, Sofia Koutsouveli, Jack1990tut, Emeryst, GilCarlson, Akanyang, Was an hero, Gurmanmundi,
Baconchocolate, Usukwiki, Godzilla1520, Zeus000000, Poiuytrewqvtaatv123321, BicelPhD, AsteriskStarSplat, Amisharajiv, Dr Mullen,
Deadjoker27, Marky999, Gamebuster19901, Heuh0, TeaLover1996, Joethethird, Rubbish computer, Sam taylor47, Jjmanofdoom, Lily-
mary123, Anunaki truth, Gweraituh3wa98th9384, PionLax, Nightwingandbats!, Isambard Kingdom, Hades324, Jiggywithe123, DN-
boards1, ANOMALIEN, GeneralizationsAreBad, ErdrickLoto, Medinalori, Jerodlycett, Prinsgezinde, KasparBot, Qaei, Jack Mullin, Sup-
man23, Wikichipmunk, CAPTAIN RAJU, Mrryanboogie, Xand123er, Xyndsbjsjdfhbuasdlk.z.kxjvasgvfsadjhf.., Sujai KC, Glawio204,
Ehlmao, Prazl001, ProgrammingGeek, BluecometFlag, Goofmel, MartinZ, ScottHla2kk3, Leo513, CLCStudent, Beatrice is ugly, Ju-
lian.Hatcher.1122, Acowmoo, Shebabroward, Brachney, Prhdbt, ExocticKnowledge01106, Dkspartan1835, Terrylim81, Yobananab, Inter-
netArchiveBot, Yatrollietroll, MYNAMEISMOSES, Jdog4454, Alienchzbrgr, Konsob031, Sardeis, Walmer1234, Dabroistheman, Cnkc-
nkcnk, Bkochendorfer, GreenC bot, Urettaa, Magnum57aldfkja;klsfjal;s, Jfkisanalien, Th12470990270923, UNSC Luke 1021, Mit112,
EeeveeeFrost, KevindeAmsterdam, Bender the Bot, Kostas20142, Iamscrub42, Mikyhaddad, JohnSmith678, Imminent77, Mr Pablo Yael,
Michelhelps, Stewart Little, At678, Thequan2000, Sharklexxx, Hdjfghapuogh, Paulblaze69, Thechaninhkasl and Anonymous: 2205

12.2 Images
• File:ALH84001_structures.jpg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a8/ALH84001_structures.jpg License:
Public domain Contributors: http://web.archive.org/web/20051218192636/http://curator.jsc.nasa.gov/antmet/marsmets/alh84001/
ALH84001-EM1.htm Original artist: NASA
• File:Arecibo_message.svg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/55/Arecibo_message.svg License: CC-BY-SA-
3.0 Contributors: Own drawing, 2005 Original artist: Arne Nordmann (norro)
• File:Buckminsterfullerene-perspective-3D-balls.png Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0f/
Buckminsterfullerene-perspective-3D-balls.png License: Public domain Contributors: Own work Original artist: Benjah-bmm27
• File:C_G-K_-_DSC_0421.jpg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0c/C_G-K_-_DSC_0421.jpg License: CC
BY 3.0 Contributors: http://www.flickr.com/photos/cgk/1558787110/ Original artist: Colby Gutierrez-Kraybill
• File:Commons-logo.svg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/4/4a/Commons-logo.svg License: PD Contributors: ? Origi-
nal artist: ?
• File:Crab_Nebula.jpg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/00/Crab_Nebula.jpg License: Public domain Con-
tributors: HubbleSite: gallery, release. Original artist: NASA, ESA, J. Hester and A. Loll (Arizona State University)
• File:Earth-moon.jpg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5c/Earth-moon.jpg License: Public domain Contribu-
tors: NASA: old link, new link Original artist: Apollo 8 crewmember Bill Anders
• File:Ethanol-3D-balls.png Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b0/Ethanol-3D-balls.png License: Public do-
main Contributors: ? Original artist: ?
• File:Folder_Hexagonal_Icon.svg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/4/48/Folder_Hexagonal_Icon.svg License: Cc-by-
sa-3.0 Contributors: ? Original artist: ?
• File:Glieseupdated.jpg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/ae/Glieseupdated.jpg License: CC BY 2.5 Contrib-
utors: http://www.exobank.fr Original artist: Hervé Piraud. Later versions were uploaded by Xhienne at en.wikipedia.
• File:Issoria_lathonia.jpg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2d/Issoria_lathonia.jpg License: CC-BY-SA-3.0
Contributors: ? Original artist: ?
• File:Lock-green.svg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/65/Lock-green.svg License: CC0 Contributors: en:File:
Free-to-read_lock_75.svg Original artist: User:Trappist the monk
• File:Lowell_Mars_channels.jpg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f3/Lowell_Mars_channels.jpg License:
Public domain Contributors: Яков Перельман - "Далёкие миры". СПб, типография Сойкина (English transliteration: Yakov Perelman
- “Distant Worlds”. St. Petersburg, Soykin printing house), 1914. Original artist: Percival Lowell
• File:Mars_Science_Laboratory_Curiosity_rover.jpg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a9/Mars_Science_
Laboratory_Curiosity_rover.jpg License: Public domain Contributors: http://marsprogram.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/multimedia/images/
?ImageID=3504 Original artist: NASA
• File:NASA-KeplerSpaceTelescope-ArtistConcept-20141027.jpg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/91/
NASA-KeplerSpaceTelescope-ArtistConcept-20141027.jpg License: Public domain Contributors: http://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/
files/transits2_on_starfield_12x7-med.jpg Original artist: NASA Ames/ W Stenzel
• File:Nitrous-oxide-3D-balls.png Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/93/Nitrous-oxide-3D-balls.png License:
Public domain Contributors: Own work Original artist: Ben Mills
• File:PIA01130_Interior_of_Europa.jpg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7b/PIA01130_Interior_of_
Europa.jpg License: Public domain Contributors: http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA01130 Original artist: unknown author of
the NASA
12.3 Content license 21

• File:Portal-puzzle.svg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/f/fd/Portal-puzzle.svg License: Public domain Contributors: ?

Original artist: ?
• File:Symbol_book_class2.svg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/89/Symbol_book_class2.svg License: CC
BY-SA 2.5 Contributors: Mad by Lokal_Profil by combining: Original artist: Lokal_Profil
• File:Telescope_Kepler-NASA.jpeg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/83/Telescope_Kepler-NASA.jpeg Li-
cense: Public domain Contributors: http://www.nasa.gov/centers/ames/multimedia/images/2007/kepler_iotd.html (direct link) Original
artist: NASA
• File:Wikiquote-logo.svg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fa/Wikiquote-logo.svg License: Public domain
Contributors: Own work Original artist: Rei-artur
• File:Wikisource-logo.svg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4c/Wikisource-logo.svg License: CC BY-SA 3.0
Contributors: Rei-artur Original artist: Nicholas Moreau

12.3 Content license

• Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0