Comments on: Researcher says detection of alien life possible within 10 years. https://habitablezone.com/2013/09/05/researcher-says-detection-of-alien-life-possible-within-10-years/ Tue, 07 Apr 2026 19:18:10 -0700 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: ER https://habitablezone.com/2013/09/05/researcher-says-detection-of-alien-life-possible-within-10-years/#comment-26589 ER Fri, 06 Sep 2013 01:43:07 +0000 http://www.habitablezone.com/?p=37419#comment-26589 some of the best news of late has been the large fraction of red dwarfs now believed to have planets in their habitable zones. The habitable zones of these cool, dim stars are very narrow, so it is totally unexpected, and very encouraging. Red dwarfs are very common, the majority of stars are red dwarfs. They also are capable of extremely long lifetimes, and are fairly stable, so there is time for life to develop there and evolve into something interesting. The negatives are that red dwarfs are prone to frequent flare outbursts that threaten planetary atmosphere formation and bathe the surface in hard radiation, and the habzones are so close to the stars that the planets are tidally locked, keeping one face always pointed to the star. Hopefully, these drawbacks will be statistically counterbalanced by the greater number of potential life worlds. It now appears that if we do find ET, the statistics are such that he will probably come from a planet orbiting a red dwarf. Fortunately for astronomers, it is easier to find planets orbiting close to red dwarfs than it is to detect other configurations. My guess is the first contact will be a moon orbiting a gas giant planet in the habzone of a red dwarf. A gas giant will have a more stable orbit, and the satellite's revolution about it will allow the moon to be heated and illuminated more uniformly by the primary star. I believe this basic plan is a very common one, and bio-generated oxygen and methane in the planetary atmosphere will be detectable as spectral absorption bands. some of the best news of late has been the large fraction of red dwarfs now believed to have planets in their habitable zones. The habitable zones of these cool, dim stars are very narrow, so it is totally unexpected, and very encouraging.

Red dwarfs are very common, the majority of stars are red dwarfs. They also are capable of extremely long lifetimes, and are fairly stable, so there is time for life to develop there and evolve into something interesting.

The negatives are that red dwarfs are prone to frequent flare outbursts that threaten planetary atmosphere formation and bathe the surface in hard radiation, and the habzones are so close to the stars that the planets are tidally locked, keeping one face always pointed to the star. Hopefully, these drawbacks will be statistically counterbalanced by the greater number of potential life worlds.

It now appears that if we do find ET, the statistics are such that he will probably come from a planet orbiting a red dwarf. Fortunately for astronomers, it is easier to find planets orbiting close to red dwarfs than it is to detect other configurations.

My guess is the first contact will be a moon orbiting a gas giant planet in the habzone of a red dwarf. A gas giant will have a more stable orbit, and the satellite’s revolution about it will allow the moon to be heated and illuminated more uniformly by the primary star.

I believe this basic plan is a very common one, and bio-generated oxygen and methane in the planetary atmosphere will be detectable as spectral absorption bands.

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