Exobiology and Gas Giants

Discussion in 'Astronomy, Exobiology, & Cosmology' started by Kel, Jun 21, 2011.

  1. Kel "Not all who wander are lost." Registered Senior Member

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    Scientists currently believe that life could exist in gas giants in the form of microbes and such. Could life evolve in a more complex form? What sort of adaptations would be nescessary? I think that some sort of jellyfish-like creature could evolve using gasses to maintain bouancy in the upper reaches of the atmosphere and subsisiting on microbes. Any thoughts?
     
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  3. mathman Valued Senior Member

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    Life in the star itself or in a planet of the star? Stars in general are pretty hot - can molecules or even atoms exist there?
     
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  5. ElectricFetus Sanity going, going, gone Valued Senior Member

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    If said gas giants atmosphere can retain particles in an area of its atmosphere that is survivable for life for extended periods of time it should be possible for life to live there. What would the life be like? Cloud microns I would guess, perhaps balloon creatures, flying creatures that must stay flying or else they will fall to the bowls of the planet and die from the pressure and heat. Probably nothing real advance could evolve, it would be a reducing atmosphere, hydrogen breathing creatures, no fire, no land, nothing of material value.
     
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  7. orcot Valued Senior Member

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    Life needs abundend minerals to form. A gas giant might have those. But how would it stay localised? Still it might not be impossible but I've got higher hopes for their moons.
     
  8. nietzschefan Thread Killer Valued Senior Member

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    Slylandro

    The Slylandro are a race of ancient and friendly gas bag people that inhabit a gas giant planet in star system Beta Corvi they call Source. They have records of contact with the Precursors. Since the Slylandro have no methods of physically recording history, long chants of past events have to be memorized in order to preserve the past. The Slylandro see on a spectrum band where they are opaque to each other and are very shy about humans seeing their "glowy bits" (their reproductive organs). The standard measurement of time for the Slylandro is the Drahn, which is equal to 4 million rotations of the planet, or about 6460 Earth years.

    The Slylandro are restricted to a narrow band on their surfaceless world. Below their inhabited area are "the Depths", which grow darker and more hostile as one ventures deeper. When a Slylandro sinks deep enough into the depths, their gas bag is almost ruptured by the pressure, causing scarring to occur which is believed to attract potential mates. Above is "the Void", which when ventured into, causes a Slylandro to "grow giddy and behave inappropriately".

    The Slylandro have no technology and no means of obtaining any. Attempts to construct any devices have resulted in them becoming too heavy and dragging their inventor to the Depths. The Slylandro play very little part in the greater scheme of things and have been discovered and rediscovered by several subsequent civilizations. Due to Source's low-stimuli environment and the Slylandro's inability to venture off-planet, they have become intensely curious about other worlds and races.

    In the Anne McCaffrey novel The Ship Who Sang, a brainship and its pilot come into contact with a race that live on a gas giant planet in the Beta Corvi star system.
     
  9. Kel "Not all who wander are lost." Registered Senior Member

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    So what youre basically saying Nietzchefan is; Read more sci-fi?

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  10. nietzschefan Thread Killer Valued Senior Member

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    Good Scifi. Star Control 2's storyline is probably one of the best.
     
  11. eburacum45 Valued Senior Member

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