Are we alone, and if so can we have all the planets? Dear Cheap Astronomy – Alien diplomacy? A recent paper by John Gertz called Interstellar Diplomacy suggests some kind of contact with aliens is inevitable, which seems reasonable with respect to some kind of radio transmission, but the paper then goes on to suggest that contact might involve a robotic scout vehicle sent here from an a distant alien civilization, which seems somewhat less inevitable and then it descends into farce by further suggesting such scouts might have flown through our atmosphere already, you know like those UAP things that the US Airforce and NASA are investigating. Yikes.   Dear Cheap Astronomy – The ultraviolet habitable zone? Current lists of potentially life-bearing exoplanets are determined by them being in their star’s circumstellar zone in which temperatures would allow liquid water to form – also known as the Goldilock’s zone. The other main required feature is that they be rocky rather than gaseous, which is determined through measurement of the planet’s mass and its likely size – so a large mass planet with a small diameter suggests a expecting to find life on planets and systems most like the Earth and the Sun, since we’re assuming all life we automatically follow the one and only example that we know of.   We've added a new way to donate to 365 Days of Astronomy to support editing, hosting, and production costs.  Just visit: https://www.patreon.com/365DaysOfAstronomy and donate as much as you can! Share the podcast with your friends and send the Patreon link to them too!  Every bit helps! Thank you! ------------------------------------ Do go visit http://www.redbubble.com/people/CosmoQuestX/shop for cool Astronomy Cast and CosmoQuest t-shirts, coffee mugs and other awesomeness! http://cosmoquest.org/Donate This show is made possible through your donations.  Thank you! (Haven't donated? It's not too late! Just click!) ------------------------------------ The 365 Days of Astronomy Podcast is produced by the Planetary Science Institute. http://www.psi.edu Visit us on the web at 365DaysOfAstronomy.org or email us at [email protected].

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