Chapter 24

Life

21st CENTURY ASTRONOMY

Fifth EDITION
Kay | Palen | Blumenthal
Universe

2016 W.W. Norton & Company, Inc.

 When did life arise on Earth?

2014 Pearson Education, Inc. 2016 W.W. Norton & Company, Inc.
Life
No discussion of the
universes structure is
complete without
considering life.
Life is a chemical
process.
Arose mostly from a
primordial soup of
organic molecules.
Early conditions have
been explored in the
lab.

2016 W.W. Norton & Company, Inc.

The First Life, Part 1
The organic molecules
needed a source of
energy to fragment and
reassemble.
Geothermal vents deep
in the oceans would be
a good source of this
energy.
Life probably began in
the oceans.

2016 W.W. Norton & Company, Inc.

 The First Life, Part 2
Life could have formed in tide pools as well.
Energy source: lightning and UV radiation.
Short strands of self-replicating molecules would
have been first.

2016 W.W. Norton & Company, Inc.

 The First Life, Part 3
Fossilized stromatolites are the earliest
direct evidence of the formation of life.
They suggest life began more than 3.5 billion
years ago, soon after the end of the
bombardment period.

2016 W.W. Norton & Company, Inc.

Complex Life, Part 1

Earliest life should have

been extremophiles,
including an ancestor of
cyanobacteria.
Formation of DNA led
to prokaryotic and
eukaryotic cells.
Evolution proceeded at
a slow pace over the
next 3 billion years.

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 Complex Life, Part 2

DNA sequencing shows the interconnectivity of

all species, establishing an evolutionary tree of
life.
The number of new species exploded 500
million years ago Cambrian explosion.
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 Complex Life, Part 3

Possible reasons for the explosion include

emergence from a period of extreme cold,
death of predators, and an increase in
oxygen and protective atmospheric ozone.
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 Evolution is Advancement, Part 1

Self-replicating molecules will inevitably make a

copying error.
Sometimes such a mutation is beneficial.
The mutation may be more successful in self-
replicating than the original.
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 Evolution is Advancement, Part 2

After a few generations, the molecules that were

more successful at obtaining resources came to
dominate.
Competition, predation, and cooperation
natural selection: success breeds success.
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 Evolution is Advancement, Part 3

Natural selection was able to create a huge

variety in 4 billion years, including humans.
Any system that combines heredity,
mutation, and natural selection must, and
will, evolve.
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The Chemistry of Life, Part 1

All terrestrial life is

composed primarily
of six elements:
carbon, hydrogen,
oxygen, nitrogen
(CHON), and small
amounts of
phosphorus and
sulfur.
Earth: based on
carbon.

2016 W.W. Norton & Company, Inc.

The Chemistry of Life, Part 2

Carbon is special.
Can form long
chains due
to its tetravalent
nature.
Other such elements
include silicon.
Life-forms that are
not carbon based
are possible.

2016 W.W. Norton & Company, Inc.

 Life Elsewhere, Part 1

Astrobiology studies the possibility of life in the

universe.
In the Solar System, life could possibly exist on
Mars or the moons of the giant planets, including
Europa, Titan, and Enceladus.
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Life Elsewhere, Part 2
Other stars have
orbiting
exoplanets.
If in the habitable
zone, these
planets could
have the right
conditions for life.
Hotter stars have
larger habitable
zones.

2016 W.W. Norton & Company, Inc.

Life Elsewhere, Part 3
Scientists can
analyze the
atmospheres of
exoplanets and look
for water, water
vapor, and more.
Determine if the
exoplanets are
similar to Earth
(Earth Similarity
Index, ESI) or are in
general habitable
(Planetary
Habitable Index,
PHI).
2016 W.W. Norton & Company, Inc.
Search for Intelligence, Part 1
We hope to contact
other life.
Pioneer 11
spacecraft carries a
plaque depicting
humanity.
Two Voyager
spacecraft carry
phonograph records
of greetings, music,
messages, and
animal sounds.

2016 W.W. Norton & Company, Inc.

Search for Intelligence, Part 2

The Arecibo radio telescope

beamed a message to the
star cluster M13.
It contained the numbers
110, hydrogen and carbon
atom depictions, a description
of humanity, and more.

2016 W.W. Norton & Company, Inc.

 The Drake Equation

The Drake equation allows us to make an

estimate of civilizations with which we
could make contact.
Using optimistic numbers, there could be
40 million technologically advanced
civilizations in the Milky Way alone!
Optimistic values: nearest civilization is
only 4050 light-years away.
Pessimistic values: We are the only one in
the Milky Way.

2016 W.W. Norton & Company, Inc.

 Listening for Life

SETI searches for radio signals from

technologically advanced civilizations.
The new Allen Telescope Array (ATA) will
survey as many as a million stars in several
years time.

2016 W.W. Norton & Company, Inc.

 The Future, Part 1

In 5 billion years, the Sun will no longer be

a main-sequence star.
It will swell in size and luminosity as both a
red giant and an AGB star.
Earth could be burned and consumed.
If the red giant Sun loses enough mass in
a wind, its loss of gravitational pull could
cause Earth to move outward, eventually
becoming an icy cinder.

2016 W.W. Norton & Company, Inc.

 The Future, Part 2

Descendants of current humanity must be

able to deal with cosmic cataclysm.
They must be able to manage the threat of
asteroid and comet impacts.
Humanity must also be able to manage
the threat it poses to itself.
Life in the far distant future could be
different from anything we can imagine.

2016 W.W. Norton & Company, Inc.

PROCESS OF SCIENCE

All science fields

are
interconnected.
Astrobiology is
an example of an
inter-disciplinary
field that requires
knowledge of
many areas.

2016 W.W. Norton & Company, Inc.

 Check Your Understanding 24.1

Extremophiles are organisms that:

a) are extremely reactive;

b) are extremely rare;
c) have an extreme quality, such as mass or size;
d) live in extreme conditions.

2016 W.W. Norton & Company, Inc.

 Check Your Understanding 24.2

Carbon is a favorable base for life because:

a) it can bond to many other atoms in long chains;

b) it is nonreactive;
c) it forms weak bonds that can be readily reorganized as
needed;
d) it is organic.

2016 W.W. Norton & Company, Inc.

 Check Your Understanding 24.3

Which of the following Solar System objects is not a

good candidate for future searches for life?

a) Mars;
b) Jupiters moon Europa;
c) Saturns moon Titan;
d) Uranus.

2016 W.W. Norton & Company, Inc.

 Check Your Understanding 24.4

The habitable zone around a star depends most on the

stars:

a) mass and age;

b) radius and distance;
c) age and radius;
d) color and distance;
e) luminosity and velocity.

2016 W.W. Norton & Company, Inc.

 Check Your Understanding 24.5

The Drake equation enables astronomers to:

a) calculate precisely the number of alien civilizations;

b) organize their thoughts about probabilities;
c) locate the stars they should study to find life;
d) find new kinds of life.

2016 W.W. Norton & Company, Inc.

 Working It Out 24.1Exponential Growth
Self-replication is an example of exponential
growth. The doubling time, n, for exponential
growth is given by the ratio of the original and
final amounts:

If a molecule replicated once each minute, How

many would exist after an hour? n = 60

More replications means greater chance for

mutations.
2016 W.W. Norton & Company, Inc.
Working It Out 24.2Putting Numbers into the Drake Equation

The Drake equation states that the number, N, of

extraterrestrial civilizations that could
communicate by electromagnetic radiation is:

2016 W.W. Norton & Company, Inc.

 Nebraska Applet
Stellar Habitable Zone Simulator

Click here to launch the Nebraska Applet

(Requires an active Internet connection)
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 Nebraska Applet
Milky Way Habitability Explorer

Click here to launch the Nebraska Applet

(Requires an active Internet connection)
2016 W.W. Norton & Company, Inc.
 This concludes the Lecture PowerPoint presentation for Chapter 24

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21st CENTURY
ASTRONOMY
Fifth EDITION
Kay | Palen | Blumenthal