Alien life within 60 light years, according the professor of astronomy at University of California, Santa Cruz, Piero Madau, who has developed a mathematical framework to help astronomers and astrobiologists find extra-terrestrial life.
Madau worked on the principle that life arises on “temperate terrestrial planets” (TTPs), i.e. planets that are the right distance from their star to be warm, but not too hot, and are of similar in size and structure to earth.
Madau estimated “the closest, life-harbouring Earth-like planet would be a distance of 20 parsecs away, if microbial life arose as soon as it did on Earth in > 1% of the TTPs around K stars.” (A parsec, pc, is 3.26 light years)
The results of the study were summarised by Universe Today as: “If Earth is Average, We Should Find Extra-terrestrial Life Within 60 Light-Years”.
References: Science Alert 29 September 2023; Universe Today 28 September 2023; arXiv
Editorial Comment: There are fatal flaws in Madau’s and Universe Today’s conclusion – the earth is not average, and life does not spontaneously arise by itself. It takes more than the right temperature and chemical components to make life.
The earth was created separately from all the objects in outer space, and it is filled with life because the Creator God put it there after He had created the earth with the right physical and chemical environment to sustain life. It takes vast amounts of information to make living cells, and information comes from the mind of the Creator, who made the heavens and earth and all that is in them.
For more on Extra-terrestrials, see the question: Is there life in outer space? Would it matter theologically if they found some? Answer here.
For more on the origin of life see Creation Conversations video here.
Creation Research News 15 November 2023
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