Outside of the Goldilocks Zone?

[yeletah]

Hi,

Why is the search for life bearing planets outside of the Solar System confined

to the stars' respective goldilocks zones while Europa is an example of a possible

life bearing moon outside of the Solar System's goldilocks zone?

or am I missing something?

[Naemeth]

Hi,

Why is the search for life bearing planets outside of the Solar System confined

to the stars' respective goldilocks zones while Europa is an example of a possible

life bearing moon outside of the Solar System's goldilocks zone?

or am I missing something?

It's easier to find planets where it might be possible for life to live on the surface than moons that might harbor life under thick ice .

[tibbz2]

The Goldilocks zone is where liquid water can be sustained on the planet and not be frozen/boiled away by being too far/close from the Sun... There isn't a reson why we shouldn't find life outside this zone, but life as we know it needs water which is why that area is the biggest 'candidate' for life supporting planets.

[Jules Tohpipi]

Hi,

Why is the search for life bearing planets outside of the Solar System confined

to the stars' respective goldilocks zones while Europa is an example of a possible

life bearing moon outside of the Solar System's goldilocks zone?

or am I missing something?

Because ET likes porridge.

[yeletah]

The Goldilocks zone is where liquid water can be sustained on the planet and not be frozen/boiled away by being too far/close from the Sun... There isn't a reson why we shouldn't find life outside this zone, but life as we know it needs water which is why that area is the biggest 'candidate' for life supporting planets.

Europa is thought to be a possible candidate for supporting life and has liquid water below its surface. Could not planets around other stars be similliar?

[Naemeth]

Europa is thought to be a possible candidate for supporting life and has liquid water below its surface. Could not planets around other stars be similliar?

They could be similar, however, we don't even know if Europa has life below it's surface because it's very difficult (well, expensive) to find that out. It's easier to have a short (ish) list of planets that can have liquid water on the surface than a much longer list of planets or moons that may have a liquid ocean beneath the surface, because it's something that would be very difficult to prove or disprove.

[yeletah]

I understand

Thanks for the posts

[Knight of Clear Skies]

The other issue is that it's much harder to detect planets far from their parent stars with the most commonly used detection methods. We could not, for example, currently detect an Earth-sized planet in a Earth-like orbit around any of the closest stars.

[tibbz2]

There has been some recent good news on this front though, something to do with when you incorporate clouds into the equation, planets in the GL around red dwarfs are far more likely!

Found here: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/07/130701135131.htm

[Donkeiller]

Life, as we know it, needs liquid water. This will only exist on a planet's surface in the "Goldilocks zone". Inside of this it will boil away. Outside surface water will freeze. Whilst this does not preclude life in a subsurface ocean, it makes it a lot harder to detect under several kilometres of ice.

[Paranoidsam]

Europa is a good candidate, but it's energy comes from tidal forces... as it's too far away from the sun. It's entirely possible that life could evolve on small moons outside the Goldilocks Zone, but at the present we don't have the means to detect them... We're still using indirect methods to discover most planets. Only a handful of exo-planets have been viewed directly, and I'm pretty sure all of them were gas giants bigger than Jupiter.

So until we have the means to detect worlds as small as Europa, our best bet is to stick with the Goldilocks Zone, and look for large rocky planets.

[221B Observer]

The James Webb telescope should be exciting though as that will surely find Goldilocks planets!

[LukeSkywatcher]

Isn't it a bit speciest (i just made that word up) to only be looking for life as we know it. Other types of life which are not like us might be very upset by this.