{"id":167792,"date":"2016-06-15T17:31:06","date_gmt":"2016-06-15T21:31:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/?p=167792"},"modified":"2022-04-25T21:01:28","modified_gmt":"2022-04-26T01:01:28","slug":"case-life-planets-167792","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/case-life-planets-167792\/","title":{"rendered":"Making the case for life on other planets"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_158302\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-158302\" style=\"width: 400px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-158302\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/adam-frank.jpg\" alt=\"Adam Frank. (University photo \/ Brandon Vick)\" width=\"400\" height=\"419\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-158302\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Adam Frank. (University photo \/ Brandon Vick)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>How can we calculate the likelihood of technological civilizations having existed on other planets? That\u2019s a question Adam Frank, a professor of astronomy, considers in an essay, \u201cYes, There Have Been Aliens,\u201d published in the <em>New York Times<\/em>. The author of three books and a national commentator on matters of astronomy and science, Frank outlines research that he and colleague Woodruff Sullivan published in the journal <em>Astrobiology<\/em> indicating that the overwhelming probability is that many other civilizations have existed during the 13-plus billion years of the universe\u2019s existence.<\/p>\n<p>Franks explains that scientists discuss the probability of life on other planets in term of the Drake equation, developed in the early 1960s by astronomer Frank Drake. The odds of extraterrestrial life, according to Drake, are based on several factors, including how many stars are born each year and how many of those stars have planets orbiting them.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/news\/are-we-alone-in-the-universe\/\">Are we alone in the universe? Setting some limits to our uniqueness <em>(April 26, 2016)<\/em><\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Frank thinks NASA\u2019s Kepler mission has given scientists the confidence to address a key factor in Drake\u2019s equation.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Last month astronomers from the <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/topics.nytimes.com\/top\/reference\/timestopics\/subjects\/k\/kepler_space_telescope\/index.html?inline=nyt-classifier\">Kepler spacecraft<\/a><\/strong> team announced the discovery of 1,284 new planets, all orbiting stars outside our solar system. The total number of such \u201cexoplanets\u201d confirmed via Kepler and other methods now stands at more than 3,000.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>As Frank points out, Drake\u2019s equation is not a case of universal law, but, instead, \u201ca mechanism for fostering organized discussion.\u201d<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>That\u2019s why discussions of extraterrestrial civilizations, no matter how learned, have historically boiled down to mere expressions of hope or pessimism.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>With the knowledge provided by Kepler, Frank argues that the odds are high that there have been technological civilizations in the universe before ours.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Specifically, unless the probability for evolving a civilization on a habitable-zone planet is <em>less than one in 10 billion trillion<\/em>, then we are not the first.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>But Frank expects there to be a long wait before anyone can conclude whether any other civilizations currently exist.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2016\/06\/12\/opinion\/sunday\/yes-there-have-been-aliens.html\"><strong>Read more at the <em>New York Times<\/em><\/strong><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div class=\"su-row highlight\">\n<div class=\"su-column su-column-size-1-4\">\n<div class=\"su-column-inner su-u-clearfix su-u-trim\">\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-518712 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/2018-06-04_Adam_Frank_063-3-2-165.jpg\" alt=\"Portrait of Adam Frank\" width=\"165\" height=\"165\" \/><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"su-column su-column-size-3-4\">\n<div class=\"su-column-inner su-u-clearfix su-u-trim\">\n<h4><strong>Astrophysicist Adam Frank<\/strong><\/h4>\n<p>A self-described \u201cevangelist of science,\u201d Frank regularly writes<em>\u00a0<\/em>and\u00a0speaks\u00a0about subjects like intelligent life forms in the universe, high-energy-density physics, space exploration and missions, climate change, and more.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/news\/adam-frank\/\">Explore full profile \u00bb<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>How can we calculate the likelihood of technological civilizations having existed on other planets? That\u2019s a question Adam Frank, professor of astronomy, considers in an essay, \u201cYes, There Have Been Aliens,\u201d published in the <em>New York Times. <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":100092,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[29212],"tags":[16792,18662,29242,16072],"class_list":["post-167792","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-voices-opinion","tag-adam-frank","tag-department-of-physics-and-astronomy","tag-exoplanets","tag-school-of-arts-and-sciences"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Making the case for life on other planets<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The odds of extraterrestrial life, according to Drake, are based on several factors, including how many stars are born each year\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/case-life-planets-167792\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Making the case for life on other planets\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The odds of extraterrestrial life, according to Drake, are based on several factors, including how many stars are born each year\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/case-life-planets-167792\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"News Center\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-06-15T21:31:06+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-04-26T01:01:28+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/fea-hubble.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1000\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"600\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Peter Iglinski\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@PiDaddy\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Peter Iglinski\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/case-life-planets-167792\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/case-life-planets-167792\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Peter Iglinski\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/f7a217a901be900507c6e137448f5d5a\"},\"headline\":\"Making the case for life on other planets\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-06-15T21:31:06+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-04-26T01:01:28+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/case-life-planets-167792\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":415,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/case-life-planets-167792\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2015\\\/04\\\/fea-hubble.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Adam Frank\",\"Department of Physics and Astronomy\",\"exoplanets\",\"School of Arts and Sciences\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Voices &amp; 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