Does Kepler-226 have life on? Charlie - child at Brighton Science Festival Gross Show, Feb 15

2/22/2015

Ivan

3/10/2015 04:21:08 am

Maybe! This planet was discovered in 2011 and was very exciting to scientists as it was found outside of our own solar system, and orbits round another star a bit like our sun. Kepler 22b orbits around its sun from exactly the right distance to be in the ‘habitable zone’. This means the temperature on the planet might be similar to our planet Earth, which means it could have life on it similar to ours.

It is important to understand that we can’t tell if it has life on it or not. It is extremely far away, about 600 light years (if a space shuttle was able to go there, which isn’t really possible, it would take millions of years), and we can’t really see it properly. We can only just detect it exists at all using the most powerful telescopes, by waiting for it to move in front of its own star.

Kepler 22b is only one of many planets scientists have now found in the ‘habitable zone’. There may be as many as 50 now that we have found, but of course there will be many more out there we haven’t seen yet. Kepler 22b is important because it was the first of its kind to be found, but that doesn’t mean it is any more likely to contain life.

So – is there life on Kepler 22b? Maybe, but if it does would it be life like our life? Would it be intelligent enough to try and communicate with us? And of course if life on Kepler 22b tried to communicate with us today, it would take 600 years for us to get the signal…

There are many theories about the likelihood of life on other planets and there are many projects set-up around the work to look for extra-terrestrial life. If we found life on other planets it would radically change our view of our place in the universe. A discovery could happen any day... maybe on Kepler 22b? Maybe somewhere else?

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