Answered Questions

I read Seth Shostack's new book and he said that its highly probable that any advanced intelligent life would be taken over by the artificial intelligence they created (like computers). Do you agree?

This is an intriguing suggestion, and Seth Shostak is not the first person to make it. Obviously I don’t know whether or not it is true, but it sounds possible to me. We may find out: projections of computer power suggest that we will have computers that are really smarter... More

I read an article on space.com where you were interviewed about the military making their spacecraft data no longer available to scientists regarding explosions from the atmosphere. Does this put the earth more at risk now of being struck by a space rock without a timely warning?

No, losing the space data on large meteors does not add to the risk of an impact. The meteor data that we have been receiving from surveillance satellites just applies to objects as they burn up in the atmosphere. What it does do is remove one interesting source of information... More

What advice would you give a high schooler who wants to be an astrobiologist? Would you take a biology or physics major when applying to colleges?

Since astrobiology is a multidisciplinary field, the best college training would involve studying both a physical science (such as geology or chemistry) and a biological science. Please see the “career paths” note on this page for details.

David Morrison
NAI Senior Scientist

What is the level of government rank that can demand that its gov't employees not talk about any space event, such as meteor or comet that threatens life or property? Will the gov't publish false misleading information or a cover-up about an event. If the government does it, is it criminal? Who has the exclusive rights to disclosure about the events in our solar system?

No civilian at any level in the United States government would ever be ordered to “not talk about any space event, such as meteor or comet that threatens life or property”. Surveys for asteroids and comets have always been conducted in the open with results (orbits and predicted close passes)... More

Was there ever a planet where the asteroid belt is now and if so, what caused it to blow up?

No, the asteroids are not the remnants of an exploded planet. This idea was suggested by some scientists about a century ago, but it was proven wrong when we began to analyze the asteroids (and meteorites, most of which are fragments of asteroids). We determined that they came from different... More

By investigating any simple book/website you can see the composition of planets even to their nucleus. How do you know that it is what you say it is? When you say that Uranus is composed by (mainly) Hydrogen, is an assumption or a fact?

Astronomers determine composition primarily using spectroscopy. (You can read about spectroscopy in Wikipedia or any astronomy textbook). Until it was discovered in the nineteenth century that each element and compound has a unique spectral signature, many persons believed that scientists would never be able to determine the composition of stars... More

I have a simple question, i have read alot of pages on the internet talking about a super-massive blackhole in the center of the Milk way, and alot of people are scared about it ... can that black hole doing something bad to us? now or in the future?

Black holes are common in the universe, including the very massive black holes that are found in the center of most galaxies. They are remarkable objects, predicted by general relativity and first found by astronomers in 1973. If you want more information, there is a good article in Wikipedia. There... More

Do you know how much longer our sun will burn before it collapses, and what will the effects be on earth? Will life be able to survive on our little rock afterwards?

The Sun obtains its energy from the fusion of hydrogen into helium in its core. Astronomers call the lifetime of a star in this hydrogen-burning phase its “main sequence lifetime.” The main sequence lifetime for the Sun is about 10 billion years, with half of that time still to go.... More

One of the main goals of astrobiology is to detect life on other planets. But since the only way to be absolutely positive of life on another planet is to visit the planet and see first hand, wouldn't that make this a nearly impossible goal?

There are three basic approaches to the search for life beyond the Earth: (1) On the planets in our solar system, such as Mars and Europa. We are able to send spacecraft to these objects, and perhaps in the future to bring samples back to Earth for laboratory analysis. (2)... More

I enjoy your answers enormously - this is the right way to promote the scientific approach to life and to combat ignorance. I found this site by chance and now am a regular visitor. Now to my question - many say that we are now standing on the threshold of a whole line of new huge discoveries in multiple areas of science. Are there any in astrobiology? Can you tell a bit about them?

It would be nice to be able to predict future scientific discoveries. Alas, it does not usually work that way, and many important discoveries are serendipitous. We do know, however, that there are several forthcoming space missions that will address astrobiology questions, including the Mars Science Laboratory rover (launch in... More