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* Your assessment is very important for improving the workof artificial intelligence, which forms the content of this project
Life in the Universe AST2037 Project: Alien Life Hand in typed paper copy by end of class on Thursday, April 6 2017 This will be a 9-page written report (1 title/summary page and 8 pages for the main report, typed 12-point, single spaced) in which you explore the possibility that life now exists, or did exist at one time, on two different worlds. The quality of the report (and the grade) will be determined by: 1. How well you demonstrate that you understand the basis for life on Earth, how we define it, and what it needs in order to survive and propagate. Feel free to speculate (but justify) whether there are extreme environments on these planets that could harbor life even if we might not initially expect it. 2. AST 2037 is GenEd course (see the course Syllabus), and so the quality of the writing will be an important consideration. Turn in paper copies of the typed report (9 pages) to me in class no later than Thursday, April 6. Staple all pages together. 12-point font, single-spaced. ____________________________________________________________________________ REPORT FORMAT Page 1 • Your Name, Student ID, Signature, Date (top of page) • Summary (1/2 page) that indicates your main conclusion about life on Ceres (3-4 sentences). Also indicate the primary conclusions (3-4 sentences) regarding the possibility of life for the planet orbiting Tebow. 5 • List (1/2 page) of the key criteria that form the basis for our assessing if something is alive or not (1-2 sentences for each). 12 ____________________________________________________________________________ TWO WORLDS Pages 2 - 5 (4 pages) World 1: Ceres Ceres is the largest object in the asteroid belt. It is now referred to as a dwarf planet. Before answering the questions below, it will help if you do some reading about Ceres so that you have a good understanding of its basic properties as context. 1. How big is Ceres (compared to our Moon, for example)? What is it made of? What do its size and composition tell you about its probable internal properties (temperature, structure, and anything else you want to add)? 10 2. What would be the main challenges for life to exist there? Are these challenges significant enough for you to expect there to be no life there? 10 1 3. What conditions plausibly exist there that allow for the possibility that life does exist there? Be sure to consider all the criteria for life that we have considered during the lectures and in the course textbook. 10 4. What kind of life might you expect? 10 5. What might be “proof” that life exists there now or previously existed there? 10 6. What might be “proof” that no life exists there now or ever existed there? 10 7. What are the main uncertainties that prevent a firm conclusion about whether life has or has not ever existed there? 10 Pages 6-9 (4 pages) World 2: Tebow Using the Hubble Space Telescope, you have discovered a planet orbiting at a distance of 2 AU from the star Tebow that is 15 light years away and very similar to our sun. The planet is about the size of Earth, and you name it Planet Alpha. It also seems to have an atmosphere, and because it is a transiting planet (one that passes in front of the star during its orbit) you can determine some of the properties of that atmosphere from the starlight that has passed through that atmosphere on its way to your telescope. 1. What atmospheric constituents or related properties, if detected by your measurements, would you consider as strong evidence for life on Planet Alpha? 10 2. What atmospheric constituents or related properties, if detected by your measurements, would you consider as strong evidence that there is not life there? 10 3. What are the implications arising from the fact that the orbital radius of Planet Alpha is 2 AU? 10 4. How important is the age of Planet Alpha as you consider the possibility that it has life? For example, how does you opinion depend on knowing that Planet Alpha and Tebow are 20 million years old, or 1 billion years old, or 4 billion years old, or 9 billion years old? What difference does the age make? 10 5. What if you could detect other planets or even moons in the Tebow planetary system. What might be one or two very useful pieces of information about these that would help you decide if there is life on Planet Alpha. 10 2