Planets & the Search for Life

How many planets do we know of today?  More than 3000

Do any of these have life?  Probably

What is this life like? Well, that’s a bit hard to answer, but tonight we’ll give it a go

Join Professor Wallace Arthur, author of the popular science book Life through Time and Space, for the latest thoughts on the likelihood and nature of alien life.  We’ll start by considering our own solar system, with a focus on Mars and on the moons of Jupiter and Saturn. Then we’ll head off into the Milky Way to look at the 3000+ exoplanets that have been discovered over the last three decades. (Exoplanets are those planets that orbit other stars than our own Sun.)

If the sky is clear, we’ll do some planet-gazing. If not, we’ll discuss the planets in detail and have an interactive session on the likelihood of alien life.

There is a distinct possibility that scientists will discover evidence for life in the next few years by analysing exoplanet atmospheres.  But we are no nearer to hearing from intelligent aliens than we were 50 years ago, which gives fresh impetus to the Fermi paradox.

This is the puzzler that although calculations suggest that there should be multiple alien civilizations in the Milky Way, so far we haven’t heard a peep from any of them. Why not?

Our passionate science team will also give you a tour of the observatory and the instruments we use, and depending on observational conditions, we will be pointing out constellations and giving you tips on how you can find incredible objects lying within our Milky Way Galaxy from our observatory viewing platform