LIFE IN THE UNIVERSE
Human beings have over the years questioned whether the earth is the only planet that can able to sustain life in the solar system. In the biblical times, people believed that they were the only people on earth, and they were created by God to serve Him.
As technology advanced, and people began to study the earth and the sun, it emerged that there were other planets such as Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, and Venus. Religious and scientific thinkers were conducting these astronomical studies trying to figure out if there was life on the other planets. For religious thinkers, especially the ones who were in the Roman dynasty they believed that earth was the only planet that could be able to support life. This was mainly motivated by their catholic beliefs. They even believed that earth was the center of the solar system. This notion was later changed when the Polish astronomer, Nicholas Copernicus in the 1500s stated that the Sun was the center of the solar system. For many years, before Nicholas Copernicus made this observation, people had believed that earth was the center of the universe based on the teachings that had been provided by Aristotle and Ptolemy.
The Roman Catholic Church also believed that this was the case, and when an Italian monk by the name of Giordano Bruno in the sixteenth century proposed that, the universe was filled with planets that could be able to sustain life; he was burned upside down and naked at a stake. Today, however, most people believe that ‘we are not alone’. The reason is that there have been discoveries that have stated that there are other planets, which have a similar atmosphere to earth.
Studies are currently being conducted on Mars to see if it can be able to sustain life. Photographs that were taken on Mars suggest that Mars can be able to sustain life. The reason for this is that its atmosphere contains Oxygen. There are also water bodies similar to those of earth. In some of the photographs, there are pyramids similar to the ones that are in Egypt. Various astrologers have claimed that they have been designed using similar technology, and that they are aligned in the same format (Tyson, 2003). Life on EarthScientists’ state that the reason why life exists as it is on earth is based on a specific chemical composition. The chemical composition that ensures that there is life on this earth is based on the following elements i.e. hydrogen, oxygen, and carbon which comprise of 95% of all the atoms that are in the human body, and all the life that exists on earth.
The carbon atom’s chemical structure ensures that it is able to readily and strongly bond with carbon and other elements in different ways leading to the earth having what is known as the carbon-based life. Life on earth is made possible because the earth constitutes the following features, which make it ideal for life to exist on earth …
