NEW YORK – A new space show at the American Museum of Natural History in New York attempts to answer the age old question, is there life in space? The show is based on thrilling new discoveries in astrophysics.
This is the opening of the new space show, “The Search For Life: Are We Alone?”, at the Rose Center For Earth and Space. Film legend Harrison Ford narrates as the audience gazes up at a very real-looking night sky, projected onto the giant, domed ceiling above their heads.
Although the question of whether or not life exists beyond the earth’s atmosphere is not new, evidence that it does exist, is. According to Dr. Michael Sharra, curator of the Museum of Natural History’s Astrophysics Department, the best single piece of evidence is a Martian meteorite that was collected in Antarctica a few years ago. “There are traces of magnetic material found inside that meteorite that are suggestive, but don’t by any means prove, that there might be simple single-celled organisms that were transported from Mars to the earth,” says Dr. Sharra.
Dr. Sharra believes findings like these call for return to Mars – as soon as possible — to look for simple life forms.
Another key piece of evidence, he says, lies in the discovery of so-called “exoplanets” — planets outside of our solar system, orbiting other stars. The first exoplanet was discovered just ten years ago. These days, astronomers discover new ones at the rate of one per month.
Dr. Sharra is tantalized by what current exoplanet data suggests. “There must be hundreds of billions or trillions of planets in the Milky Way galaxy alone. And of course there are a hundred billion galaxies out there, so the number of worlds which could potentially support life has grown from, well, zero that we knew of just a few years ago to many, many trillions today,” he says. “Those facts alone tell us that the chances of us finding life in our lifetime, if it exists elsewhere, are really pretty good.” But is the work of Dr. Sharra and his colleagues going to receive the financial support it needs to sustain a relentless search for life in the far reaches of outer space?
Myles Gordon of the Museum of Natural History thinks that NASA the federally-funded space program will find the necessary resources. “There’s enormous support for NASA in Mars exploration,” he says. “And I think there’s enormous interest among the public in this question, and if NASA pursues a strategy of looking for life in the universe, I think they’ll get a lot of support.”
The hope of everyone involved in the production of the space show, he says, is that it will further stoke the flames of the public imagination, and that will later translate into long-term funding of the search. In the meantime, he will keep his position in the ranks of the curious.
The Rose Center space show will continue to ponder the question, “Are We Alone?” for the foreseeable future.
