ETI: Where are they?

by Inseok Song (“iSong”)

Session #1

FYOS 1001Wed 11:15-12:05PM

Room 254

Are we alone in the Universe?

I am an exo-planet hunter!

The 1st Imaged Exo-palnetary system !

Co-Principal Investigatorof Gemini Planet Imager Campaign Science team

• Awarded 890hrs of 8m telescope time in Chile• 50 PhDs throughout the world.• 40+ million dollars project• starting late 2012 – 2015

• Will image dozens of Jupiters orbiting other stars

… trying to understand the origin of planetary systems• In Pleiades, collision between two planets!

Ancient folks were wondering also…• Epicurus (341-270 B.C.) : atomists

There are infinite worlds both like and unlike this world of ours. … we must believe that in all worlds there are living creature and plants and other things we see in this world.

• Aristotle (384-322 B.C.) : aristoteliansThe world must be unique... There cannot be several worlds

• St. Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274):o integrated Aristotle’s philosophy into Christian theology.

First Day of the Class• Professor: Inseok Song • Office Number: Physics Building, Room 240 • Office Telephone Number: 706-542-7518• E-Mail Address: song@uga.edu • Course Webpage:http://www.physast.uga.edu/iSong/FYOS1001

• Office Hours: 1hr after the class or by appointments (email preferred)

Check the course webpage frequently!

• Course Goals: Get informed knowledge on the Life in the Universe beyond the level of mere guessing… and also have a chance to do a tiny research and present the result.

• Textbook: Lecture notes..

• Prerequisite: None

• Academic honesty: If you are using someone else’s work in your report, you need to clearly provide the reference (even if it is a simple URL). Otherwise, your work will be regarded as plagiarism and a serious case will be reported to the University.

• Classroom code of Conducts: Follow general rules and use your common sense.

• Grading: Traditional letter (A-F) grades will be assigned based on presentation sessions (30%), participation during discussion sessions (20%), and short reports (50%) ½ page, single-spaced report.

Each student needs to make at least 2 presentations and 5 short reports.

Is it reasonable to imagine life beyond Earth?• Universality of Physics and Chemistry

Observed data show that same laws of nature govern our Earth, Solar System, Galaxy as well as galaxies far far away. Similarly, distant stars/galaxies are made from the same chemical elements as ours.

• Can biology also be universal?If we find nearly identical planets to Earth, then, could similar biological processes of Earth have happened on those planets?

o Vast Universe! At least to the 1st part of the question (“if we find identical planets”), yes we started

finding such planet(s) already (Kepler 22b).

Vast Universe!

Vast UniverseHubble Ultra Deep Field: in a very small region of the sky (similar to the angular extent of a penny at the end of a football field), ~10,000 galaxies were found.

Vast Universe : Hubble Ultra Deep FieldIn the Universe, there are about 10 billions galaxies!And, each galaxy has about the same number of stars as in the Milky Way So, there have to be Earth-like planets somewhere out there…

Next week

Are aliens also using Carbon and H2O like us?

Presentation topicso Cosmic Abundanceo Habitability of planets

For your presentation, please use the presentation template from the course webpage. Target your presentation to be 3-5 minutes long.