Module 3: A changing World in a Changing Universe
The Limits of Organic Life
Based on a National Academies news release
With its thick, distended atmosphere, Titan's orange globe shines softly, encircled by a thin halo of purple light-scattering haze.
Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute
The search for life elsewhere in the solar system and beyond should include efforts to detect what scientists sometimes refer to as "weird" life -- that is, life with an alternative biochemistry to that of life on Earth -- says a new report from the Nation
al Research Council.
Link
Essentially Immortal
Based on a Louisiana State University news release
Antarctica is home to the largest body of ice on Earth. Prior to approximately 10 years ago, no one thought that life could exist beneath the Antarctic ice sheets, which can be more than two miles thick in places, because conditions were believed to be too extreme. However, Brent Christner, assistant professor of biological sciences at LSU, has spent a great deal of time in one of the world’s most hostile environments conducting research that proves otherwise.
Credit: USGS
If confirmed, "immortal cells" could prove potential for life on Mars and Europa, one of Jupiter's moons.
Link
Deep Earth Exploration
If Kinross Mining Corp. pulls the plug on its aging Lupin Mine, Nunavut would lose more than a few dozen jobs and some service contracts.
http://www.nunatsiaq.com/archives/30822/news/nunavut/30822_03.html
Extremophiles
Article about extremophiles, Robert Evans,
INEEL Research Communications October 1999
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/1998/06/980626083315.htm
Viable extremophiles in ice near Lake Vostok
http://www.macatawa.org/~oias/snowflak.htm
Bacteria may play a role in the Snow Cycle
http://www.awi-bremerhaven.de/Eistour/eisbildung-e.html
The Alfred Wegener Institute: Germany’s leading institute for polar research
How Sea Ice Can Harbor Life; Ice algae
http://space.com/scienceastronomy/antarctic_life_021216.html
Does Life Exist in Antarctic Lake Buried Under Miles of Ice?
John Roach National Geographic News,November 15, 2004
Based on a National Academies news release
With its thick, distended atmosphere, Titan's orange globe shines softly, encircled by a thin halo of purple light-scattering haze.
Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute
The search for life elsewhere in the solar system and beyond should include efforts to detect what scientists sometimes refer to as "weird" life -- that is, life with an alternative biochemistry to that of life on Earth -- says a new report from the National Research Council.
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2004/11/1115_041115_antarctic_lakes.html
Suggested places to start you research for the poster on Comparative Planetology
Planet and moon cards from Astrobiology Teacher’s Guide
Videos about Mars and moons of Jupiter
Planet Posters from NASA and National Geographic
DK Encyclopedia
Handouts on “Comparative Planetology” from SETI Institute Teacher’s guide
Solar System Lithograph Set for Space Science (NASA)
Comparative Planetology: http://www.astro.washington.edu/larson/Astro150b/Lectures/Earth/earth.html
NASA Solar System site:
http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/planets/profile.cfm?Object=Mars
Mars pathfinder:
http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/MPF/index1.html
Mars exploration:
http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov
Planet Quest:
http://planetquest.jpl.nasa.gov/science/science_index.html
From the data and pictures sent back to Earth we know a lot about our solar system. We can make assumptions about which planets or moons in our solar system might have life or once may have had life. Astrobiology is the search for scientific information that supports these assumptions.
Berkley Best of the Solar System Images
http://cse.ssl.berkeley.edu/segwayed/lessons/boss/student1.html
Solar System Official NASA Site:
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/solar_system/
http://learn.arc.nasa.gov/planets/main/intro.html
Official NASA site: Celestial Exploration Activity NASA Site excellent information and beautiful photographs of planets
New Horizons: NASA’s Pluto-Kuiper Belt Mission Launches in 2006-- At this website is a good explanation of what it means to be a planet. Official NASA Site Pluto: http://pluto.jhuapl.edu/science/scienceOver.html
New Horizons launched in January 2006. It will swing past Jupiter for a gravity boost and scientific studies in February 2007, and reach Pluto and its moon, Charon, in July 2015. Then, as part of an extended mission, the spacecraft would head deeper into the Kuiper Belt to study one or more of the icy mini-worlds in that vast region, at least a billion miles beyond Neptune's orbit. Sending a spacecraft on this long journey will help us answer basic questions about the surface properties, geology, interior makeup and atmospheres on these bodies.
Voyager Space Craft Official NASA Site:
http://voyager.jpl.nasa.gov/index.html
Summary of the current NASA Missions
Link.
