Harsh planet

I admit it… I love television shows like “Ancient Aliens,” “Cosmos,” and “Through the Wormhole.” All those extraterrestrial theories are fascinating and exciting. Consider it… how lonely to believe that Earth is home to the only life forms in all of infinite space.

I get all giddy thinking about whether there are other sentient beings on neighboring planets, or that at some moment in our past, otherworldly travelers visited Earth.

There is one thing that peeves me though. When scientists discuss whether this or that planet couldn’t sustain life, they prescribe attributes as if Earth’s environments are the standard.

Take Gliese 436 b, a Neptune-sized exoplanet orbiting a red dwarf star in the Leo constellation. Because of its intense gravity, its surface is solid ice AND because of its close proximity to its sun, its surface temperature is 822° F (439° C). Based on Earth standards, no life could exist on this planet, but could it?

It’s an alien world. Life could exist there, life that we simply can’t comprehend. Perhaps we have already encountered other beings on planets within our solar systems, but we didn’t recognize it.

Within Yellowstone National Park, there are sulphur pools as caustic as battery acid. It’s an environment that is toxic to humans and most other creatures, yet there are organisms that live there.

The Fangtooth fish has been found in waters at a depth of 16,000 feet, or 2.5 miles. The pressure and freezing temperatures at that range would be deadly for humans. Yet, life still exists.

Even the lowly cockroach can survive nuclear radiation at a level that would kill other life forms within minutes.

Could it be that we already share a planet with extraterrestrials?