HR: 0800h
AN: P41A-0212    [Abstracts]
TI: Life Between The Stars: Could Tidal Heating Produce More Biology Than Starshine?
AU: * Abel, B
EM: babel@olympic.edu
AF: Olympic College, 1600 Chester Avenue, Bremerton, WA 98337-1699, United States
AB: The search for life in the universe should not be confined to terrestrial planets; in fact it may not even be the best place to look. Tidally energized, ice-capped ocean worlds like Jupiter's moon Europa may be a more common home for carbon-based, aqueous life forms. Europan satellites can orbit giant planets and brown dwarfs, both of which appear to be relatively abundant. Moreover, since they do not require starlight for energy, they can inhabit a much greater volume of space. This raises the question as to whether tidally energized satellites are orbiting brown dwarfs within our Sun's gravitational sphere of influence. Theoretical and observational evidence indicates that brown dwarfs could be orbiting Sol at distances out to 100,000 A.U. or more. The possibility of finding these distant circumsolar objects is explored by comparing some of their predicted characteristics and our ability to detect them. A study of the circumsolar brown dwarf population beyond 100 A.U. may now be feasible, particularly at infrared wavelengths. Such an exercise could reveal new worlds to explore and new insights regarding the general characteristics and relative abundance of tidally energized biology in the universe.
DE: 5200 PLANETARY SCIENCES: ASTROBIOLOGY
DE: 5215 Origin of life
DE: 5770 Tidal forces
DE: 6221 Europa
DE: 6296 Extra-solar planets
SC: Planetary Sciences [P]
MN: 2007 Fall Meeting