Friday, April 15, 2022

Book Review: Imagined Life by James Trefil and Michael Summers

 



This blog has had several posts linking how we use math to answer questions about space. 

Math Vacation: Book Review: Twenty Worlds by Niall Deacon (jamesmacmath.blogspot.com)

Math Vacation: How Many Black Holes are there in the Universe? (jamesmacmath.blogspot.com)

Math Vacation: Number of Planets in the Universe (jamesmacmath.blogspot.com)

Math Vacation: Can We Reach Another Star? (jamesmacmath.blogspot.com)

Math Vacation: How Far is it to the Next Nearest Planet with Interstellar Communication? (jamesmacmath.blogspot.com)

Math Vacation: One Equation - One or Many Worlds? (jamesmacmath.blogspot.com)

Authors James Trefil and Michael Summers put together a very good summary of the types of planets that exist in our universe that could support life. They classify these planets in the following ways:

Goldilocks – those planets like Earth that are just right distance from their star to have liquid water. This is our only confirmed source of life in the universe, so this very Earth-centric view is valid. However, they bring out that many other planet types could support life.

The other planet types explore in the book include:

Planets with surfaces of only solid ice.

Planets with surface ice and having liquid oceans below the surface.

Planets entirely covered with liquid water.

Planets that are in a tidal lock with their sun as our moon is with Earth.

Earth-like planets bigger than Earth but smaller than Neptune (none in our solar system, but very common elsewhere).

Planetary systems like those orbiting Trappist-1 where several planets are orbiting in close proximity to their star.

Most interestingly, are the rogue planets. These are planets that formed in solar systems and were ejected from the system by violent encounters during the solar system’s formation. Some believe that the number of rogue planets may far outnumber traditional planets. While they would not bathe in sunlight, they still have the source of energy from the cooling of their initial formation and from radioactive decay. Therefore, it is possible that these rogue planets could harbor life.

The book also discusses life forms that may exist outside of usual experience, including artificial intelligence and life based on electromagnetic basis versus a chemical basis.

Another important idea discussed is what other liquids, other than water, could be supportive of life. The main candidates include liquid methane, ammonia, and hydrogen sulfide.

Also explored is the possibility of life based on elements other than carbon, such as a silicon-based life.

Imagined Life: A Speculative Scientific Journey among the Exoplanets in Search of Intelligent Aliens, Ice Creatures, and Supergravity Animals: Trefil, James, Summers, Michael: 9781588346643: Amazon.com: Books

 


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