# We've found an extrasolar planet with life on it. Now what? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 17, 2009, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weve-found-an-extrasolar-planet-with-life-on-it-now-what/510474 "2009-09-17T18:53:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Susanann](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7ab992/32.png) [@Susanann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Susanann)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2009, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weve-found-an-extrasolar-planet-with-life-on-it-now-what/510474/41 "2009-12-17T03:30:07Z")
> [@Lumpy](#): > > It would get monitored by radio telescopes long enough to confirm whether or not artificial signals were being transmitted from it. It might be kewl enough to get a really big space-based imaging array funded and built. If it’s right next door (Alpha Centauri), you get people seriously proposing building a thermonuclear-pulse colony vessel. What if the radio telescopes we build discover that signals are being “broadcasted”(not reflected) from that planet of reruns of the I Love Lucy show? What if further analysis of their broadcast signals indicate that the people of that planet are savages and are constantly at war continually building weapons and endlessly killing and maiming each other ? 1. They already know about us since they obviously have received our I Love Lucy shows and are rebroadcasting them. 2. They are potentially extremely dangerous to earth beings since they continually kill each other and have endless wars. What do we do? ---
**Author:** ![I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/i_love_me_vol.i/32/521_2.png) [@I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_Love_Me_Vol.I)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2009, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weve-found-an-extrasolar-planet-with-life-on-it-now-what/510474/42 "2009-12-17T03:55:04Z")
> [@Jettboy](#): > > In a gesture of friendship, we send over a pie. _Everyone_ loves pie. Or maybe we send Pi … so that we can figure out whether or not we enough in common to even talk. ---
**Author:** ![pravnik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8edcca/32.png) [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2009, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weve-found-an-extrasolar-planet-with-life-on-it-now-what/510474/43 "2009-12-17T03:59:53Z")
Invade it and convert it to our religion at spearpoint. I love the classics! ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2009, 12:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weve-found-an-extrasolar-planet-with-life-on-it-now-what/510474/44 "2009-12-17T12:04:26Z")
Send probes. Every year, send an updated version of the probe, with daisy-chaining data return ability. Keep sending them until we get a response from the first to orbit the planet. Within 100 years, I expect these probes to either be AI or uploaded humans. Send manned slowships as soon as we are able. Previous threads on one-way missions to Mars have made it clear there’d be no shortage of volunteers. Oh, and **bup**? Pass the Kleenex! ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2009, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weve-found-an-extrasolar-planet-with-life-on-it-now-what/510474/45 "2009-12-17T13:19:11Z")
> [@Susanann](#): > > They are potentially extremely dangerous to earth beings since they continually kill each other and have endless wars. > What do we do? And this differs from most UN members how ? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![HawksPath](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/f07891/32.png) [@HawksPath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HawksPath)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2009, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weve-found-an-extrasolar-planet-with-life-on-it-now-what/510474/46 "2009-12-17T20:46:46Z")
> [@I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](#): > > Or maybe we send Pi … so that we can figure out whether or not we enough in common to even talk. No offence, but this sounds like the setup to a joke where a nerd is at a cocktail party. He sits on the edge because no one wants to talk about mathmatics while people talk about many other topics some deep, some petty. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2009, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weve-found-an-extrasolar-planet-with-life-on-it-now-what/510474/47 "2009-12-17T21:07:25Z")
> [@Susanann](#): > > What if after years of monitoring their signals, we eventually decipher their language, and find out that they seem to be in constant war on that planet, and constantly murdering each other? Sell them weapons, obviously. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![RandMcnally](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b782af/32.png) [@RandMcnally](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RandMcnally)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2009, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weve-found-an-extrasolar-planet-with-life-on-it-now-what/510474/48 "2009-12-17T21:51:21Z")
> [@Susanann](#): > > 1. They are potentially extremely dangerous to earth beings since they continually kill each other and have endless wars. > What do we do? We make sure the U.S. gets to them first so that way we can get an arms trade going. ---
**Author:** ![bup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6bbea6/32.png) [@bup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bup)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2009, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weve-found-an-extrasolar-planet-with-life-on-it-now-what/510474/49 "2009-12-17T22:11:48Z")
> [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](#): > > And, closer to home, [URL=“[http://www.dnaindia.com/scitech/report\_indian-scientists-detect-signs-of-life-on-moon\_1322785](http://www.dnaindia.com/scitech/report_indian-scientists-detect-signs-of-life-on-moon_1322785)”] My guess is that organic matter they have or may find on the moon in the future is ejecta from earth. The K-T impact certainly threw rocks into space, and certainly some of them probably eventually landed on the moon. There may even be dinosaur fossils in a couple of them. Same deal with Mars, incidentally. ---
**Author:** ![RandMcnally](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b782af/32.png) [@RandMcnally](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RandMcnally)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2009, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weve-found-an-extrasolar-planet-with-life-on-it-now-what/510474/50 "2009-12-17T22:21:41Z")
> [@bup](#): > > Same deal with Mars, incidentally. And vice versa. All life on this planet could have been seeded from Mars. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2009, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weve-found-an-extrasolar-planet-with-life-on-it-now-what/510474/51 "2009-12-17T22:25:33Z")
> [@bup](#): > > My guess is that organic matter they have or may find on the moon in the future is ejecta from earth. > > The K-T impact certainly threw rocks into space, and certainly some of them probably eventually landed on the moon. There may even be dinosaur fossils in a couple of them. > > Same deal with Mars, incidentally. Would the rocks show signs of having been blown into space - melted, or something? Or is the chemical make up of the moon sufficiently different that it would be obvious? Let me know if you would prefer a thread in GQ or whatever. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![bup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6bbea6/32.png) [@bup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bup)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2009, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weve-found-an-extrasolar-planet-with-life-on-it-now-what/510474/52 "2009-12-17T22:55:47Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > Or is the chemical make up of the moon sufficiently different that it would be obvious? I don’t know, honestly. I do know when ‘they’ identify a meteorite as being of Martian origin it’s because of its chemical makeup, its texture, and its oxidation. I’m speculating. But it seems to me a certainty that there are earth rocks on the moon, and a fair guess that when they find organic matter on the moon, that’s what they found. ---
**Author:** ![levdrakon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@levdrakon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/levdrakon)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2009, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weve-found-an-extrasolar-planet-with-life-on-it-now-what/510474/53 "2009-12-17T23:00:17Z")
No sooner do we detect bacterial “fossils” and methane on Mars and scientists pop up and propose abiotic explanations. Even if we detected “chlorophyll” green, I’m pretty sure it would be inconclusive until we sent a probe that could Google Earth the place. I really don’t think people are as excited about bacteria as they used to be. Various space programs will get a couple extra billion for a few years, but mostly the we-should-feed-the-poor-firsters would make sure it was as big a priority as manned Mars bases are now. ---
**Author:** ![umop\_ap\_sdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/dbc845/32.png) [@umop\_ap\_sdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/umop_ap_sdn)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2009, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weve-found-an-extrasolar-planet-with-life-on-it-now-what/510474/54 "2009-12-18T04:01:07Z")
Wouldn’t it be boring if we found life based on water, oxygen, and chlorophyll out there? I’d rather see the discovery of life based on something we haven’t thought of, in a place that’s totally inhospitable to us (and vice versa). If we knew how to find this kind of life, we might find it a lot sooner than simply looking for a clone of Earth. That said, I imagine they might have something akin to a [red edge](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_edge); finding such a spectral feature at any wavelength (within the star’s spectrum at least) could be evidence of some form of life. ---
**Author:** ![T.Slothrop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3e96dc/32.png) [@T.Slothrop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/T.Slothrop)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2009, 4:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weve-found-an-extrasolar-planet-with-life-on-it-now-what/510474/55 "2009-12-19T04:41:12Z")
The first step: “get an environmental impact statement from God.” I can’t take credit for that. I blame it on the Doper: Attack from the Third Dimension in answer to a question I asked about why we don’t seed Mars with lichens and radish seeds. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weve-found-an-extrasolar-planet-with-life-on-it-now-what/510474.md?page=2)