First Alien Encounter

Scientists keep searching for life beyond Earth. What might other life-forms look like? Should there be an official plan in case contact is made? In his column for Space.com, SETI Institute astronomer Seth Shostak notes that if there really is a substantial development in the search for extraterrestrial intelligence, a lot of scientists will quickly get in on the action. "You will find information about it on their Web sites, and in multiple media outlets," Shostak says. If even a false alarm spreads like wildfire on the Internet, brace yourself for a communications conflagration when first contact is truly made. Guy Newell, Niles, Mich.: "If it turns out that there really are extraterrestrial microfossils in a meteorite that has spent the last 140 million years in space and could not possibly have come from Earth (let's say, ejected during a meteor impact) then that would be more than a surprise. I would consider that right up there with the discovery of fire. Certainly the most important discovery of my lifetime. Unless cold fusion turns out to be real." (Note to Guy: Keep reading.)

Patrick Bishop, Caldwell, N.J.: "That every nook and cranny of the universe where conditions are not lethal may be teaming with microbial life is something I can accept as plausible. But extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence. I would feel more comfortible with claims of extraterrestrial microfossils if we could also find living extraterrestrial microorganisms. After all, these supposed cyanobacteria must have once been alive ... so where are all the living colonies of microorganisms? Why do our meteorites contain only fossils? Were life as ubiquitous as this supposed fossil evidence suggests, given evolution's tendency to find solutions to environmental problems over time, these meteorites should be dripping with life. Mars and even Earth's moon should be absolutely sticky with life. As for what these scientists are seeing, my 3-year-old also sees dragons and rabbits and sailboats in the shapes of clouds. Viva la pareidolia..."

M. Sprunck: "With all of the recent extrasolar planet identifications within the tens of thousands of light-years range, what is limiting our existing technology from photographing any of these planets? The Hubble and other telescopes are capable of photographing objects more than 10 billion light-years distant, so why haven't we seen pictures or these much closer extrasolar planets? Is it that these planets are so close (relatively) to their host stars that makes them indiscernible?"

That's definitely part of the reason, M. This is why scientists are working on nulling interferometers to cancel out the glare of the host star. Also, the planets may well be obscured by the disk of dust and ice that are thought to swirl around parent stars. Astronomers hope that future space-based interferometers such as NASA's Terrestrial Planet Finder may finally provide glimpses of extrasolar planets — and even analyze their atmospheres for signs of life.

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