Ice on Mars - Confirmed?

[Chanur]

I'm guessing because methane is 2 of the 4 elements needed for Amino acids. Which leads to proteins and life.

[Eomer]

Originally Posted by Itzena

Because there's been no active volcanoes found on Mars either?

But again, what's more likely, a common geologic process, or life?

[Cybsled]

But again, what's more likely, a common geologic process, or life?

We won't know for sure until we get more info. I bet some bio scientists would give their left nut (or ovary) to get a probe or something into some of the caves that have been discovered on Mars. If they went deep enough, they could be excellent spots for potential life.

[Zhaun's_Shade]

I believe the methane is a byproduct of us awakening the martian war machine, and is exhaust from the factories activating the martian invasion fleet.

[Itzena]

Originally Posted by Eomer

But again, what's more likely, a common geologic process, or life?

A common geological process on Earth. Who knows how common volcanic eruptions are on Mars?

[Requiem]

Originally Posted by Eomer

But again, what's more likely, a common geologic process, or life?

I realize you think you're asking a rhetorical question, but if you count microbial life as life, it may be a much better question than you think - in general, not just on Mars.

That being said, this link suggests that there probably is at least sub-surface volcanism occurring today on Mars.

SPACE.com -- Study Claims Recent Volcanic Activity on Mars

[Lejina Bloodbath]

Originally Posted by Eomer

But again, what's more likely, a common geologic process, or life?

You got it backward.

They look at metane not as a product of life, but as something life can use.

There's bacterium who essentially "breath" methane. That doesn't mean they are present, but with methane in the environment, then such form of life has a shot to, you know, live.

-edit-
Teach me for not reading the article before posting. Yeah, they look at methane as potentially being the result of microbial actions, but you're right, that coud be something else entirely.

My original point still stand tho, while methane may or may not have been the result of some form of life on Mars, it could very well be used by another.

[Eomer]

Originally Posted by Lejina

My original point still stand tho, while methane may or may not have been the result of some form of life on Mars, it could very well be used by another.

Your original point completely contradicts the article posted. Methane is typically viewed as a byproduct of microbial life, not a fuel for it. As you admitted after making the post.

Originally Posted by Requiem

I realize you think you're asking a rhetorical question, but if you count microbial life as life, it may be a much better question than you think - in general, not just on Mars.

It wasn't meant as a rhetorical question, really. But the fact is, volcanism is a common geologic process not just on Earth, but on pretty much any solid object large enough (smaller ones like Mercury have since cooled, but Venus and Earth both have it as do numerous moons of gas giants) due to the force of gravity and radioactive decay. If the planet or moon is large enough and hasn't cooled, it's got volcanism. It's pretty much inevitable.

Life on the other hand, even microbial life, we still have yet to observe anywhere else other than Earth. That's not to say it isn't out there, or that it's not going to be common; personally I think we probably will discover some kind of life in our solar system, let alone in the galaxy at large.

But again, given what we know currently, the CBC article was a little too eager to trump up the IT'S LIFE angle (and made the study authors out to feel the same), whereas the New Scientist article was much more circumspect and showed that the researchers were far less emphatic about the IT'S LIFE angle.

Originally Posted by Itzena

A common geological process on Earth. Who knows how common volcanic eruptions are on Mars?

Again, it's an inevitability of physics that Mars would have had volcanism in the past. And it may still have the occasional fart here and there as it continues to cool down. Mars is dotted with dormant/extinct volcanoes. So my point still stands: Mars has had active volcanism in the past but has since mostly cooled. But we KNOW that for a fact. We know nothing about the probability of life on the planet.

You don't think it's a bit presumptuous to assume or claim the methane is microbial and not volcanic? That's the point I'm making.

[TheCutlery]

Originally Posted by Eomer

Your original point completely contradicts the article posted. Methane is typically viewed as a byproduct of microbial life, not a fuel for it. As you admitted after making the post.

It's been awhile since I studied a lot of this stuff, but aren't there several moons/planets in the outer solar system with a heavy atmosphere of near frozen/frozen methane? I think that right there would completely contradict a typical view when you've got entire atmospheres of the shit and no signs of life.

[Eomer]

Methane is NOT only produced by life, that's the fucking point. I wasn't saying that's the only way it's made. It's a product of volcanism as well. I was saying that in terms of looking at other planets, methane is viewed as a possible byproduct of life and not necessarily a requirement for it. Some moons like Titan have shitloads of it, instead of a water cycle it has a methane/ethane cycle where the shit rains down, makes lake, freezes, snows etc.

On Mars right now, there's no known large amounts of volcanism, the planet is thought to be largely dormant, which is why it's interesting there was a brief spurt of it a few years ago. It's either geologic (most likely) or biotic (less likely).

[ChewieTobbacca]

Geological activity is definitely more likely, but if we can get some probe to explore deep into caves there, it would certainly be a far more interesting search (esp. since if there's any underground water to be found, it would be an amazing discovery of liquid water elsewhere than Earth).

Not to mention that on Earth itself, we have extremophiles that live deep in underground lakes and what not that don't require sunlight of any kind.

And yes, methane does exist in large abundances on other places. Titan has entire seas and oceans of this stuff (to go along with mountains, dunes, etc.). Titan is literally a frozen version of Earth around 4 billion years ago. If they had a giant magnifying glass in space that focused the sun on Titan and warmed it up to Earth temperature, it would probably be going through the same shit the early Earth did

Random thought: Speaking of Mercury, does anyone else think Mercury could possibly be a Chthonian planet?

[Araxen]

Look the Aliens...I mean Mars Angels cleaned off the rovers panels again!

Slashdot | Mars Winds Clean Spirit's Solar Panels Again


Also, I was watching the show The Universe on History the other day and they were speculating that there may be earth like planets in Alpha Centuri System so I'm thinking if there are planets there would most of the planets always be entirely covered in sunlight since it's has two/three stars in it?

[Tea on tuesday]

Originally Posted by Araxen

Also, I was watching the show The Universe on History the other day and they were speculating that there may be earth like planets in Alpha Centuri System so I'm thinking if there are planets there would most of the planets always be entirely covered in sunlight since it's has two/three stars in it?

No. Not at all.

edit: I looked it up, and it looks like it may be possible for a planet to have a stable orbit, but it still wouldn't look like what you're imagining. There aren't going to be stars on opposite sides of planet in that system.

edit 2: Wikipedia conveniently has an artist's interpretation.

[Eomer]

Keep in mind that the stars in multi-star systems orbit each other at pretty large distances. The Alpha Centauri stars, for example, orbit each other at a distance between about 12 and 36 AU (the distance between the Earth and sun). So if one or both had planetary systems orbiting near them, the other star would just be an extremely, extremely bright star and not an actual source of much heat/energy. Or if the planet was orbiting the center of mass in the system, it would be extremely far from both stars.

As far as the orbital mechanics go, looks like it's a possibility: Alpha Centauri - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[Screamfeeder]

You both are incorrect as usual.

I submit evidence.