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Willem C. Hildebrand

Ms. Goodrich

English 1

21 April 2021

Life Beyond The Stars

When viewing the topic of alien life, many just see false claims and conspiracy theories,

UFO’s, abductions, etc. But, with examples of scientific theories, evidence found on planets, and

Proxima B, the idea of extraterrestrial life is not only reasonable, but probable too.

Scientists and astronomers have created many theories regarding alien or extraterrestrial

life. It has been proven that the universe is infinitely expanding, this means that there are

infinitely expanding chances for a planet to have life on it. While there might be around one

habitable planet every 100 planets now, at some point it may increase exponentially. Also,

currently there are anywhere in the septillions of planets that exist today. An article explaining

possible reasons for extraterrestrial life states, “we know nearly every star in the night sky has at

least one planet in its orbit” (Patel). This means there are septillions of planets in the visible

universe, if scientists only know about 3,000 planets today, there's a good chance that at least one

of the countless planets they don't know about does have life on it.

Countless discoveries have been made that could confirm the existence of habitable

conditions. And if a planet is habitable, then there might already be life there. Many planets,

even in this solar system, could possibly hold life. A web article states, “ Mars has water, as

we’ve known since 2015 […] there’s little reason to write off any chance we might find aliens”

(Walsh). The reason for finding evidence of water on planets or moons being so important is

because water is one of the core foundations for any life. Scientists have also found evidence of

water on certain moons orbiting Jupiter and Saturn.

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One planet in particular is very interesting in that it is very similar to earth. Proxima B is

a planet orbiting 4.25 light years away from Earth around the Proxima Centauri, a red dwarf.

Like Earth, Proxima B circles its star in the habitable zone, a documentary describes the

habitable zone as, “the distance where most water is neither frozen nor evaporated” (Alien Life

on Proxima B). As the name suggests these conditions are not only perfect, but required for life.

It is also nearly the same size as Earth, only around 30% larger. The main differences between

these planets are their oceans. Proxima B’s ocean is around five times deeper than Earth’s.

Proxima B is also a very rocky planet, of course these rocks are under hundreds to thousands of

feet below the ocean. That being said, there are theories of this planet containing floating islands

carried by currents which could be used as land.

The idea of there being life beyond the stars is backed up by scientific theories along with

solid evidence found on planets and specifically Proxima B. Even if the idea of extraterrestrial

life seems crazy, there’s still always a chance they’re real. And maybe, even intelligent.
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Works Cited

“Alien Life on Proxima b: A Second Earth or Waterworld?: Alien Analysis.” YouTube, 20 Feb.

2017, youtu.be/lbifmQWbusc.

Huggins, David. “13 Reasons to Believe Aliens Are Real.” Intelligencer, 20 Mar. 2018,

nymag.com/intelligencer/2018/03/13-reasons-to-believe-aliens-are-real.html.

“Proof Aliens Exist? Interstellar Object 'the First Sign of Intelligent Life'.” South China Morning

Post, 24 Feb. 2021,

www.scmp.com/lifestyle/article/3122732/do-we-finally-have-proof-aliens-exist-interstellar

-object-oumuamua-first.