Life in the Universe is carried by the bodies of the conquerors of space, committed to earth
American scientists believe that people owe their existence to a dead alien buried on our planet billions of years ago.
It is obvious that the upcoming space expeditions - in the solar system and beyond - will be fraught with great risks. One of the crew members will suddenly take, and will die from an accident, get sick and die. Or he will simply die of old age. This can happen both on the way and on the spot - on another cosmic body. For a start, for example, on Mars. Or on an asteroid. Manned expeditions are planned both there and there. And the time will come and the last haven of space pioneers will be a planet near a neighboring star - and at least the recently discovered "sister of the Earth" near Proxima Centauri. And then more distant ones.
Leaving the dead in space is not wise - for life-affirming reasons.
American microbiologist Gary King and colleagues at Louisiana State University suggest using mournful events for good. As they say, in the name of the triumph of life in the Universe.
The essence of the innovation, which scientists outlined in the Astronomy Magazine: to deliver the deceased to another planet. But to deliver so as to keep the body safe and sound. And already in place - to provide him with contact with the environment. It is assumed that it - this environment - should be more or less favorable. At least not murderous. In this case, microbes and organic matter, once on a still uninhabited planet, will become the basis from which local life will develop over time.
Those who died on Mars will be buried there.
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An alien grave will give a start to life. Perhaps new.
King believes that even if all microorganisms die along the way, organic matter will still be preserved. And the "foreign" DNA will eventually be brought in. From it, the so-called "bricks of life" will be formed. And of them - she herself. What once may have happened on Earth: aliens flew in, buried their deceased brother and flew away. His body became the "grain" that gave rise to "shoots" - in fact, "trampling death with death."
AT THIS TIME
Dead aliens are easier to find than living ones
Astro cemetery plans were also unveiled by British scientist Jack O'Malley-James from the University of St Andrews, UK - he was going to search for dead aliens. Like, it's much easier than getting on the trail of the still alive. Because the dead give off methanethiol gas. It remains in the atmosphere for 350 years, then turning into a more persistent ethane. If in any stellar system it is possible to detect either one gas or another, then this will indicate that at least animals once lived here. And even intelligent beings.
Where does methanethiol come from in an amount recognizable from Earth - distances of tens and hundreds of light years?
“The gas will come from the mass extinction of living things,” Jack replies.
And creatures die out when the local luminary becomes a red giant - it swells, increasing hundreds of times. And destroys life on the planets that were with him. This is the fate of all stars the size and mass of our Sun.
Someday - maybe in a million years, or maybe in a billion and the Sun will swell with a red giant - it will destroy our descendants, making them a source of methanethiol.
What's next? Having absorbed and, as a result, incinerated living beings, the red giant begins to shrink. Until it turns into a bright white dwarf the size of the Earth.
These are the objects recently examined by astronomers led by Jay Farihi of the University of Leicester, UK.
Scientists were guided by the idea: any white dwarf must keep in itself the remains of the "eaten" by the red giant - the chemical elements that made up the planets and their inhabitants. Therefore, by analyzing the emission spectra of white dwarfs, one can try to look for the lines of these elements. What, in fact, astronomers were doing in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey project. In nature, as they say, nothing disappears without a trace.
First, the Sun will become a red giant, destroy the inhabitants of the Earth …
And then the Sun will shrink and become a white dwarf the size of the Earth. Like Sirius B. And soak up our remains.
Farikhi and colleagues studied a total of 146 white dwarfs. They were in areas free of cosmic dust, comets and asteroids. That is, the probability that the stars were attacked by matter brought in from the depths of the universe was minimal. Nevertheless, even a preliminary analysis of the spectrum of dwarfs showed that they are full of calcium. And calcium is both hard rocks and … bones.
Further: where calcium was found, an increased content of hydrogen was also found. And hydrogen is water. Water is life. And calcium and water together are rocky planets with oceans. Like our Earth.
The combination of elements, testifying to the past life, was identified in 109 dwarfs. In fact, most of those surveyed.
It's sad, of course, but it turns out that the bright lights of the white dwarfs are memorial ones. Like candles in a church …
Vladimir LAGOVSKY