Answered Questions

I'm working on a nonfiction children's book about life in the solar system. I'm trying to find information on extremophiles. What are they? Do we have evidence they exist anywhere else in the solar system besides Earth? Who discovered their existence?

Good luck with your book! There is lots of information available on extremophiles (life that flourishes under conditions that we would consider extreme in terms of temperature, salinity, chemical environment, radiation, etc.). Do a search on Ask an Astrobiologist, or on Wikipedia, or look at any of the books that...

July 22, 2008 More

When NEAR Shoemaker orbitted 433 Eros, it did not detect in its year orbit (and successful touchdown) any satellites (according to what i've read). Now in '05 we discover Dysnomia. Is this a recent addition? Is this 'moon' projected to stay with Eris/Eros in its course since Eros' gravitational effects are so minute? Could this body be jostled about enough to impact Earth on its next 'scheduled' flyby?

You seem to be very confused. Eros is not Eris, any more than the letter i is the same as the letter o. Eris is a dwarf planet, larger than Pluto, in the outer solar system, with a moon Dysnomia. Eros is an asteroid, a thousand times smaller, in the inner solar system....

July 21, 2008 More

How come whenever a life-detection device is designed, like those on the Viking Landers and those being planned for ExoMars and the Mars Science Laboratory, it's never a microscope. It always ends up being like a GCMS or something built to detect a specific chemical or organic compound. Wouldn't a microscope provide much more definitive data?

You raise an excellent point, one that has frequently been debated among astrobiologists. At the time of Viking (more than 30 years ago) it would have been difficult to obtain the high resolution images needed and to transmit them to Earth. With today's technology, this would not be a problem, and we could transmit...

July 18, 2008 More

I am trying to find out who at NASA is still doing CELSS research, and what the state of CELSS research is at this point. CELSS standing for "Closed Ecological Life Support System".

Given NASA's current focus on the development of a new rocket and crew vehicle, there is currently no CELSS-type research being funded at this time within NASA. By CELSS-type research I mean the incorporation of biological processors into an integrated life support system. There remains considerable CELSS expertise in NASA (both at Kennedy Space...

July 17, 2008 More

So many people send in ridiculous questions about death planets and 2012 and planetary alignments. Really I am surprised at the lack of knowledge out there. I was reading Astronomy textbooks by the time I was 8 years old. It was fascinating stuff. And it becomes more fascinating every day. Planetary alignments were interesting 2,000 years ago to the folks who knew nothing of what it all meant. Now that we know what it means, and we know it means nothing, why do people still love that Astrology related stuff? And why don't people know more about Gravitational Waves, Black Holes, and really neat stuff like that?

I ask myself the same question every day. Some people like to think catastrophes are coming, but I wish they would pay attention to real issues that threaten the Earth, like global warming and loss of habitat, rather than falling for hoaxes like Nibiru and pole shifts.
David Morrison
NAI Senior Scientist

How long does it take to create intelligent life out of microbial life in the fastest possible way where the planets climate is stable?

We can't answer that question, since we have only one example of life to study. On Earth the time span from the first multicelled life to intelligence was a bit less than a billion years, but that really doesn't help answer your question about the "fastest possible way".
David Morrison
NAI Senior Scientist

Is there any scientific data that shows the earths magnetic poles are shifting faster over the past decades? When was the last magnetic polar shift on earth? If we think it happens in approximately 1 million year cycles, would that not be the pertinent question? If the earths magnetic poles shifted significantly or reversed, does anyone know for certain what the effects would be on the surface of the earth?

The magnetic poles are always shifting slightly, in response to both internal variations in the Earth's dynamo and to changes in the Earth's magnetosphere that are triggered by the Sun. There is no indication that these magnetic variations have increased recently. Wikipedia has good articles on Earth's magnetic field and on geomagnetic reversals. These reversals...

July 14, 2008 More

Is there a way to enter into the field of Astrobiology without a PhD? I only have an MS in Biochemistry. If so, what is the best inlet to get involved with this fascinating area of research?

Astrobiology research is no different from any other science: it is usually a team effort involving PhDs, lab techs, students, administrators, and other support personnel. One approach for you is to contact groups that are engaged in astrobiology research. Or you might consider related activity, such as science writing or teaching. There is room...

July 11, 2008 More

I am so sick of seeing the sites dedicated to planet x and nibiru. I use to think these people were crazy until I came across this link http://www.nasa.gov/vision/universe/solarsystem/newplanet-072905-images.html which basically means NASA is admiting the possibility of a dwarf or brown dwarf to be specific. Can you enlighten me as to what the heck is going on?

There is no contradiction here. The 2005 NASA press release you reference is about the discovery of Eris, a dwarf planet slightly larger than Pluto and considerably farther out, which I have repeatedly discussed on this website. It has nothing to do with Nibiru, and as I have pointed out before, the term...

July 10, 2008 More

With all this talk about Nibiru and 2012 its kinda hard to believe anything a government funded agency has to say. Because if this truly is real then I understand it would cause mass panic around the world so the government I believe would have good reason for concealing this. All the general public has to look into are either youtube and other websites that can't really be trust and well you guys, who are also not exactly trustworthy either.

It is interesting that you ask me when your message is mostly assertions that NASA can't be trusted. But you did ask me, so I will answer. I am telling you the truth, and honesty is a fundamental value of science. We seek the truth about nature, and we also communicate our findings...

July 9, 2008 More