Aliens May Well Exist in a Parallel Universe, New Studies Find

According to a new pair of studies in the journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, there’s a decent chance that life-fostering planets could exist in a parallel universe — even if that universe were being torn apart by dark energy

No Way Out? Aliens on 'Super-Earth' Planets May Be Trapped by Gravity

"Super-Earth" planets are giant-size versions of Earth, and some research has suggested that they're more likely to be habitable than Earth-size worlds. But a new study reveals how difficult it would be for any aliens on these exoplanets to explore space.

Could Dark Streaks in Venus' Clouds Be Signs of Alien Life?

The question of life on Venus, of all places, is intriguing enough that a team of U.S. and Russian scientists working on a proposal for a new mission to the second planet — named Venera-D — are considering including the search for life in its mission goals.

'Alien Megastructure' Star Keeps Getting Stranger

The more scientists learn about "Tabby's Star," the more mysterious the bizarre object gets.

Newly analyzed observations by NASA's planet-hunting Kepler space telescope show that the star KIC 8462852 — whose occasional, dramatic dips in brightness still have astronomers scratching their heads — has also dimmed overall during the last few years.

"The steady brightness change in KIC 8462852 is pretty astounding," study lead authorBen Montet, of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, said in a statement. [13 Ways to Hunt Intelligent Alien Life]

"Our highly accurate measurements over four years demonstrate that the star really is getting fainter with time," Montet added. "It is unprecedented for this type of star to slowly fade for years, and we don't see anything else like it in the Kepler data."

Have We Detected Megastructures Built By Aliens Around A Distant Star?

The Kepler space telescope's job is to find faraway planets that could potentially support life. But as The Atlantic reports, scientists are exploring the possibility that the telescope may have detected something even more exciting.

For four years, the telescope stared at a patch of sky, waiting for each star to darken, which would indicate an exoplanet passing in front of it. The telescope monitored more than 150,000 stars, but one star in particular stood out to citizen scientists who were helping to analyze the Kepler data: KIC 8462852, located 1480 light-years away.

When a planet passes in front of a star, the star dims only for a few hours or days, and on a regular basis-- every 365 days, for example. But, at irregular intervals, the star KIC 8462852 darkens by as much as 20 percent, and it stays dark for anywhere between 5 and 80 days.

What could cause the weird light fluctuations? The researchers who discovered the behavior call it "bizarre."

Read the entire article:
http://www.popsci.com/have-we-detected-alien-megastructures-around-distant-star

More reading:
http://www.smh.com.au/technology/sci-tech/astronomy/its-either-aliens-or-a-swarm-of-comets-scientists-baffled-by-wtf-001-our-galaxys-strangest-star-20151014-gk9iwj.html

We'll Find Alien Life in This Lifetime, Scientists Tell Congress

Humans have long wondered whether we are alone in the universe. According to scientists working with the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) Institute, the question may be answered in the near future.

"It's unproven whether there is any life beyond Earth," Seth Shostak, senior astronomer at the SETI Institute, said at a House Committee on Science, Space and Technology hearing Wednesday (May 21). "I think that situation is going to change within everyone's lifetime in this room."

Scientists search for life beyond Earth using three different methods, Shostak said.

The first method involves the search for microbial extraterrestrials or their remains. Investigations include robotic missions to Mars, such as Curiosity and Opportunity, which are currently searching for signs that the Red Planet could once have hosted potentially habitable environments.

Read the entire article:
http://www.space.com/26000-alien-life-prediction-congress-hearing.html

Life on Alien Planets Trickier to Find Than Previously Thought

Finding alien life on habitable planets around distant stars may be harder to identify than scientists have previously thought, a new study suggests.

The search for inhabited and habitable exoplanets is focused on M dwarf stars — stars that are smaller than the sun but make up more than 75 percent of the stars in the sun's vicinity, scientists have said.

But these small stars have different ultraviolet properties from the sun, however, which could further complicate the search for alien life, researchers with the new study, which was unveiled today (Oct. 7).

"Before we can claim the discovery of life on exoplanets, we have to examine the stars harboring these planets more carefully," study leader Feng Tian, a professor at the Center for Earth System Science at Tsinghua University in Beijing, China, said in a statement. He presented the research today in Denver, Colo., at the 45th annual meeting of the American Astronomical Society's Division for Planetary Sciences.

The buildup of high levels of oxygen in the atmosphere of an exoplanet is the most promising indicatory for life on alien planets, officials from Tsinghua University said. The new study shows that oxygen can still build up in the atmospheres of lifeless planets, they added.

Read More:
http://www.space.com/23096-alien-life-exoplanet-search-complicated.html