COSMOS EXTREMO- LA BÚSQUEDA - ESTRENO 2024 - HD - PELICULA DE OVNIS
COSMOS EXTREMO: LA BÚSQUEDA | ESTRENO 2024 | HD | PELICULA DE OVNIS
Este documental ofrece un viaje cautivador a través del cosmos, que muestra la inmensa escala del universo. Los avances tecnológicos, como los telescopios espaciales y las misiones internacionales, nos permiten mapear planetas potencialmente habitables y buscar vida extraterrestre.
Este documental ofrece un viaje cautivador a través del cosmos, que muestra la inmensa escala del universo. Los avances tecnológicos, como los telescopios espaciales y las misiones internacionales, nos permiten mapear planetas potencialmente habitables y buscar vida extraterrestre.
Category
🎥
Short filmTranscript
00:00:00The observable universe contains approximately 3 to 7 times 10 to the power of 22 stars,
00:00:21that is, between 30 and 70 billion billion stars, all coordinated in more than 80
00:00:29billion galaxies, which in turn form clusters and super clusters of galaxies.
00:00:38Since the time of the Greek philosophers,
00:00:40humans have wondered if we are alone in the universe,
00:00:48or if there are other habitable planets that house intelligent civilizations similar or different
00:00:56to ours. Since the 16th century, the Italian philosopher and poet Giordano Bruno was
00:01:07firmly convinced of the existence of an infinite number of suns and planets inhabited like the Earth.
00:01:17In 1855, the existence of an exoplanet was postulated by Captain W.S. Jacob,
00:01:25who discovered anomalies in the stellar system or Fiuci, a binary stellar system.
00:01:34Anomalies that he thought were due to the presence of some planets.
00:01:41The first true exoplanet orbiting a star,
00:01:44the Pegasus E51, was discovered in 1995 by Michael Mayer and Didier Kellos,
00:01:54although its size is approximately half the size of Jupiter.
00:02:01Since 1999, scientists have begun to discover a whole series of exoplanets,
00:02:10most of which are large planets and none are considered terrestrial.
00:02:16Taking into account what humans have discovered about our own solar system,
00:02:25we can understand the greatness and power of everything that surrounds us.
00:02:33Alien planets
00:02:35may already seem majestic and important, but experts make new discoveries every
00:02:47day more advanced. We are increasingly aware of the possible existence of extraterrestrial life.
00:02:57Beyond our solar system, there is a vast and mysterious universe of infinite possibilities.
00:03:10And that is precisely why, in recent decades, we have witnessed a series of discoveries
00:03:17outside the solar system, which have aroused the debate about the existence of extraterrestrial life.
00:03:28In recent decades, modern telescopes, including the Kepler telescope and the Hubble
00:03:35Space Telescope, have revealed an increase in the number of planets outside our solar system,
00:03:41known as exoplanets.
00:03:45Exoplanets
00:03:48Some of these exoplanets are located in the habitable zone, the region near a star,
00:03:55where the conditions could sustain life as we know it.
00:04:02The arrival of technology has allowed us to discover
00:04:06extrasolar planets of different sizes, orbiting around stars different from the Sun.
00:04:17Some of these planets have been classified as super-Earths, because they are larger than
00:04:23our Earth, but they are mainly composed of rocks. However, the search for extraterrestrial life
00:04:33focuses mainly on planets known as habitable zones, where temperature
00:04:40allows the presence of liquid water on the surface.
00:04:47NASA also launched the Kepler mission, a space telescope specifically created
00:04:53to search for exoplanets. Thanks to this mission, thousands of planets have been discovered,
00:04:59some of which could potentially house forms of life.
00:05:06While we still have to find conclusive evidence of extraterrestrial life,
00:05:11scientists will continue to explore the universe in search of answers to one of
00:05:17humanity's biggest questions. Are we alone in the universe?
00:05:28The solar system is a vast region of space that includes the Sun, planets,
00:05:34natural satellites, comets, stars and asteroids orbiting around it.
00:05:42What continues to fascinate scientists and astronomy enthusiasts
00:05:48is that this fascinating cosmic zone has always aroused curiosity and has inspired
00:05:54numerous discoveries that have greatly expanded our knowledge of the universe.
00:06:02The center of our solar system is the Sun,
00:06:08a star that constantly burns the energy generated by the nuclear fusion of hydrogen into helium.
00:06:17Its gravitational force is felt by all the celestial bodies orbiting around it.
00:06:25The eight main planets that make up the solar system in order from the Sun are
00:06:31Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune.
00:06:38The Sun, the center of everything, a burning star with incandescent gas,
00:06:49the Sun radiates energy through the process of nuclear fusion. Its warmth and its light nourish
00:06:57life on Earth. With a diameter of approximately 1.4 million kilometers, this yellow sphere burns
00:07:05at approximately 5,500 degrees. Mercury, the closest planet to the Sun, is a small
00:07:16rocky planet without an atmosphere. Its surface is characterized by craters created by impacts
00:07:25with asteroids and comets and extremely high temperatures due to its proximity to the Sun.
00:07:36With high temperatures on one side and a cold climate on the other,
00:07:40Mercury offers an inhospitable environment for life.
00:07:48Venus, on the other hand, is a planet surrounded by a dense atmosphere that
00:07:54makes it the hottest planet on the solar system due to the greenhouse effect.
00:07:58Covered by a thick atmosphere of toxic gases, its atmosphere is mainly composed of
00:08:09carbon dioxide and the pressure on the surface is so high that it could easily crush a space probe.
00:08:19Earth is the third planet from the Sun and our delicate and unique world. It is the only
00:08:26known planet that hosts life, thanks to its atmosphere, liquid water on its surface and
00:08:33moderate temperatures. The presence of a biosphere, which is a complex ecosystem that
00:08:43includes living organisms, makes the Earth unique in the solar system.
00:08:48Mars, also known as the red planet, has characteristics similar to Earth,
00:09:00such as polar seasons and caps. Some scientists believe that it may have
00:09:07housed microbial life in the past, or even hosted life in the form of extremophile microorganisms.
00:09:14Mission after mission, humanity is getting closer and closer to the full understanding of the mysteries of the red planet.
00:09:30Then we come to the giant gaseous giants, Jupiter and Saturn.
00:09:38Jupiter is the largest planet in the solar system, with a mass that exceeds that of all
00:09:44the other combined planets. It has an atmosphere mostly composed of hydrogen and helium,
00:09:53and its nucleus can be formed by rocky and metallic material.
00:10:00Jupiter also has a series of strange characteristics, such as the great red spot,
00:10:06a persistent storm that extends for thousands of kilometers.
00:10:13Saturn, on the other hand, is famous for its beautiful ring system,
00:10:18mainly made up of ice and rock particles.
00:10:24In addition to its rings, Saturn also has a large number of moons, some of
00:10:30which may have underground oceans that could potentially house microbial life.
00:10:37Uranus and Neptune, the two ice giants, are located at the far end of the solar system.
00:10:50Unlike the gaseous giants, these planets are mainly composed of
00:10:56frozen substances such as methanol, ammonia and water. Both have a series of moons that have
00:11:04been studied in detail, where the existence of underground oceans and complex atmospheric systems
00:11:11has been discovered . There are also potentially habitable moons in the solar system.
00:11:21Europe, a moon of Jupiter, is covered by a thick layer of ice.
00:11:29Scientists believe that there may be a vast ocean under this frozen surface.
00:11:35Some believe that the ocean of Europe could host life similar to that of the oceans of our Earth.
00:11:49In Zeladu, one of Saturn's moons, it emits ice and water vapor eruptions on its south pole.
00:11:55This phenomenon suggests the presence of a warm ocean under the surface,
00:12:04which could be a possible home for microbial life.
00:12:10Outside our solar system, one of the closest exoplanets to our home is
00:12:16Proxima Centauri b, which orbits the star closest to our sun, Proxima Centauri.
00:12:25With a mass similar to that of the Earth, this planet could have atmosphere,
00:12:30liquid water and adequate temperatures for life.
00:12:38The trapeze is a stellar system made up of seven planets almost the size of the Earth,
00:12:43orbiting a very cold red star. Due to their proximity to each other, some scientists suggest
00:12:54the possibility of adequate conditions for life on one or more of these planets.
00:13:02There are also planets that have been discovered by researchers at the
00:13:07University of Cambridge, which have published in the Astrophysical Journal.
00:13:14They are hot exoplanets, covered by oceans and with atmospheres rich in hydrogen,
00:13:20which could potentially be habitable. Perhaps that is why people naturally
00:13:25wonder if aliens really exist and live there.
00:13:33These celestial bodies have been called Ice Planets and are extremely suitable for
00:13:40housing microorganisms capable of living even in extreme conditions. In addition,
00:13:46if we talk about their surface, it could be thought that these planets would allow
00:13:52other forms of life to be housed. They are a cross between a super rocky earth and a
00:13:58gaseous planet like Neptune, creating unprecedented density. These new exoplanets can be up to
00:14:05almost three times larger than the Earth and reach atmospheric temperatures of almost 200 degrees Celsius.
00:14:16But in any case, their habitable area seems decidedly large.
00:14:23There is the hypothesis that thanks to new telescopes, in the coming years it will be possible to
00:14:30discover if aliens really live or bacterial life forms on these planets.
00:14:36The perspective is decidedly fascinating. Before 1992, the only known planets were those
00:14:48of the solar system that orbited around the sun. In the last 30 years, more than 4,000 planets have
00:14:55been discovered and confirmed orbiting other stars, of which they have been called exoplanets.
00:15:06On the NASA website, it is also possible to see a video map showing the position of the
00:15:12planets seen from our perspective with the Milky Way in the background.
00:15:21In this video, you can also see how much the discoveries have grown in recent years.
00:15:30With different colors, it shows how the different planets were discovered.
00:15:37The most widespread is undoubtedly the transit method, in blue, which identifies
00:15:43the planets when they are between us and their star, thus reducing the brightness of the star itself.
00:15:52This approach was also used by the Kepler Space Telescope, which was the only one
00:15:58responsible for the discovery of 2,345 exoplanets and was recently deactivated,
00:16:05after running out of fuel necessary to advance towards future objectives.
00:16:13The place of Kepler has been occupied by TESS, the Exoplanet Study Satellite in transit,
00:16:19and the James Webb Space Telescope, whose launch had been delayed for a long time,
00:16:26before finally entering space. Now that it is functional, the James Webb Telescope is not only
00:16:35able to identify new exoplanets, but is also able to reveal the chemical composition
00:16:40of their respective atmospheres. This will help us better understand the formation of planets
00:16:49and seek evidence of extraterrestrial life. We can then understand, up to this point,
00:16:57that if life beyond our life is the greatest mystery of all, the more
00:17:02these discoveries are given, the more it has to stop being a mystery.
00:17:09And if many experts continue on their path, a new investigation will shed light on the subject
00:17:15with a quite different perspective. So, yes, we know that there are worlds similar to Earth,
00:17:24but what if these worlds were even older than Earth and already inhabited by
00:17:30more advanced forms of extraterrestrial life than us? In the past, astronomers have always
00:17:39sought signals of a life on a cellular level, imagining that they would find evidence of
00:17:45microorganisms that one day could evolve into different forms of life, as happened to us on
00:17:51Earth. A new study led by Professor Jane Greaves from the University of Cardiff,
00:18:01published in research notes from the American Astronomical Society, silences this question.
00:18:09And if there was a planet much older than ours, but with a similar shape,
00:18:14where life had already developed billions of years ago, evolving
00:18:20to a level higher than that of humans? Then, researchers focused their attention
00:18:27on some stars of the Milky Way, which are about 8 billion years older than the sun.
00:18:36It is possible that these stars have lost their radiation over a much longer period of time
00:18:42than the sun, and it is possible that they have reached a sufficient balance so that life
00:18:48arises before on Earth. Two excellent candidates were identified in this way,
00:18:56HD 76932 and HD 201891, stars that are 70 and 110 light years away from us,
00:19:07respectively, born in the turbulent past of our galaxy.
00:19:12Therefore, the research will focus on these stars. However, scientists explain that,
00:19:22if life exists on these exoplanets, there should be continents. The continents are formed
00:19:29thanks to tectonic plates. The plates that float on the molten magma of a planet,
00:19:37move, break and reassemble through radioactive processes that take place in the nucleus.
00:19:46Experts are looking for the presence of these elements in distant stellar systems,
00:19:51as evidence of the possible existence of planets with continents.
00:19:59If there really was an exoplanet much older than Earth, it could have been inhabited
00:20:06by much more advanced extraterrestrial life forms than humans.
00:20:13If this is so, one of the mysteries of this whole situation remains,
00:20:18why have these creatures never tried to contact us, or worse, erase us from the universe?
00:20:27A superhabitable planet is defined as a planet far enough from its sun to have
00:20:34liquid water on its surface. All the examples discovered so far are slightly
00:20:42older, larger and slightly warmer and humid than Earth.
00:20:50Researchers identified them after analyzing 4,500 planets outside our solar system,
00:20:57coordinated by Dirk Schulz-Makuch of the Technical University of Berlin.
00:21:05Scientists say that around the so-called K dwarfs,
00:21:11colder stars with less mass and less luminosity than the sun would rotate.
00:21:18But unlike our sun, they can live about 70 billion years or even more.
00:21:24This property allows superhabitable bodies to accommodate a greater development of life than
00:21:31what occurred on Earth.
00:21:36Civilization in Space
00:21:41Officially, there are many worlds that can be habitable on the Milky Way.
00:21:46They are good news for extraterrestrial hunters. There are more than 300 million
00:21:53worlds with conditions similar to those on Earth scattered throughout the Milky Way.
00:21:57Research shows that approximately half of the stars similar to the sun in the galaxy
00:22:05have satellites in the habitable zone, where water could concentrate in various
00:22:11areas of the planet's surface and therefore house extraterrestrial civilizations.
00:22:19Natalie Batala, astronomer at the University of California in Santa Cruz, who participated
00:22:26in the study, states that the results show that a star can have a habitable zone.
00:22:36Therefore, this study published in the Astronomical Journal identified a key number
00:22:43in Drake's equation. This equation, created by Frank Drake in 1961, sets a framework
00:22:51to calculate the number of detectable civilizations on the Milky Way.
00:22:59The equation is based on three main parameters, the rate of generation of stars similar to the sun,
00:23:06the percentage of stars with planets, and the number of habitable worlds in each stellar system.
00:23:12Astronomers estimated the number of these planets using data from the
00:23:20NASA Kepler probe and the Planetary Exploration Telescope.
00:23:29For nine years, Kepler observed stars and managed to locate distant worlds by detecting the
00:23:35decrease in the brightness of a star caused by the approach of a planet that
00:23:41temporarily blocks its emission of light. Depending on the amount of light blocked and the
00:23:48frequency, scientists can calculate the size of the planet and the time it will take to
00:23:54complete its orbit around the star. Using this approach, Kepler, at the end of his mission in
00:24:052018, discovered thousands of exoplanets of all sizes and orbits, identifying around 2,800 of them.
00:24:22The first estimates indicated that 20% of stars similar to the sun had worlds in
00:24:29orbit that met this requirement. However, we now know that the figure is close to 50%.
00:24:40This result, however, surprised everyone. Before it was one in five. Now,
00:24:47one in every two stars similar to the sun could have a habitable planet orbiting it.
00:24:53The stars observed by Kepler were more active than scientists expected,
00:25:03emitting signals that imitated or confused the signature of the planets that were only passing by.
00:25:15However, Kepler's main objective was to determine the frequency of
00:25:20temperate and rocky planets similar to Earth that orbited stars similar to the sun.
00:25:30To make these calculations, he needed the help of the European Space Agency,
00:25:35GAIA, which monitors the stars of the galaxy.
00:25:43In fact, to reach his conclusions, Batala and his colleagues crossed references with
00:25:50the information provided by Kepler and GAIA, which allowed them to locate the characteristics of
00:25:55a billion stars within reach. They identified planets with a diameter ranging from half
00:26:05to one and a half times that of Earth, according to Kepler's observations,
00:26:09and that they were rather rocky rather than gaseous.
00:26:13Then, GAIA gave them the temperature and size of the stars on which those planets orbited.
00:26:26Instead of basing habitability on the distance to the star,
00:26:31the team calculated the amount of energy received by each of these worlds.
00:26:37Then, they chose planets that had temperatures that allowed water to remain on their surface.
00:26:51After obtaining a sample of temperate, rocky worlds that orbit stars similar to the sun,
00:26:58they were able to estimate how many existed in the entire galaxy.
00:27:02They discovered that between 37 and 60% of similar stars on the Milky Way
00:27:11should have hot worlds similar to Earth.
00:27:19Using a probability calculation of the energy required for a world to be temperate,
00:27:24they discovered that between 58 and 88% of similar stars could have similar worlds.
00:27:32Of course, many factors determine whether a world in the habitable zone is really suitable for life.
00:27:48Planetary characteristics such as magnetic fields, atmospheres, the existence of water and,
00:27:55as mentioned before, the tectonic plates are involved and are difficult to find
00:28:02in such small and distant worlds.
00:28:08However, this research will significantly contribute to indicating exactly where life could exist.
00:28:20In addition, calculating the distances likely to the closest planets,
00:28:25it turns out that, astronomically speaking, life is right in front of our noses.
00:28:34The closest world is probably less than 20 light years away,
00:28:39and four of those worlds should be less than 33 light years away.
00:28:49The Drake equation
00:28:56We need to go back in time to better understand and connect everything examined so far.
00:29:06So, we will return to the origins, when and how these first questions and hypotheses began.
00:29:17All these fascinating hypotheses have led to a series of discoveries and investigations
00:29:24with several essential contributions from scientists of each era.
00:29:33Among them, the Frank-Drake equation has led to a new potential in the search for extraterrestrial intelligence.
00:29:42But let's start chronologically.
00:29:47Year 1000 BC to year 1600 AD
00:29:55For millennia, in the ancient world, the writings of philosophers such as Epicurus and Pliny the Elder
00:30:04suggested the existence of inhabited worlds.
00:30:11In the first century AD, the Greco-Roman writer Lucian of Samosata
00:30:18wrote a fantastic narrative entitled True History,
00:30:23in which he described encounters with extraterrestrial creatures.
00:30:32Years 1400 to 1700
00:30:40In the European Renaissance, philosophers like Giordano Bruno
00:30:45affirmed the existence of infinite worlds inhabited by creatures different from terrestrials.
00:30:56However, these ideas remained predominantly in the sphere of philosophical speculation.
00:31:08Years 1600 to 1800
00:31:13With the advent of the scientific era, the investigation of the existence of extraterrestrial life
00:31:20became a more formal subject of study.
00:31:26The Galileo Galilei telescope made it possible for a precise observation of the sky,
00:31:32and astronomers began to study the planets of our solar system.
00:31:38The rise of Copernican theories about a heliocentric universe
00:31:43led to new speculations about the possibility of life elsewhere.
00:31:52Years 1800 to 1900
00:31:58At the end of the 19th century, the development of advanced instruments such as the telescope
00:32:04Clarke refractor allowed astronomers to explore the universe in depth.
00:32:15Percival Lowell, founder of the Lowell Observatory, began a specific search on Mars,
00:32:21which sparked a heated discussion about the presence of Martian channels
00:32:26that are believed to be of possible artificial origin.
00:32:29This opened a new chapter in the investigation of the existence of extraterrestrial life.
00:32:43From 1900 to the present day
00:32:51Space exploration and the birth of the concept of extraterrestrial life
00:32:56Space exploration and the birth of the concept of extraterrestrial life
00:33:06The arrival of the space age in the 20th century accelerated even more the search for extraterrestrial life.
00:33:14In 1960, the scientist Frank Drake organized the first conference
00:33:20for the search for extraterrestrial intelligence at the National Astronomy Observatory.
00:33:33During this conference, Drake developed the equation that bears his name,
00:33:38a mathematical model that estimated the number of technologically advanced civilizations in the universe.
00:33:50This equation provided a basis for the future evolution of the investigation of extraterrestrial life forms.
00:33:58To go into more detail, in 1961, the astronomer Frank Drake
00:34:03carried out the first real experiment to try to detect extraterrestrial signals.
00:34:10This was known as the OSMA project.
00:34:14Using the Green Bank Observatory in West Virginia,
00:34:18Drake pointed his radio telescope at the nearby stars
00:34:22Tau Ceti and Epsilon Eridiani, about 10 or 11 light years away.
00:34:33Its purpose was to listen to intelligent radio signals,
00:34:38tuning the magical frequency of 1420 MHz,
00:34:43where cosmic radiation is minimal and does not interfere with radio signals from space.
00:34:58The following year, in 1962, the American astrophysicist Carl Sagan
00:35:05proposed the use of radio waves as a means of communication with other civilizations.
00:35:16Sagan believed that the use of radio signals would be the most effective means
00:35:21to establish interaction with distant extraterrestrial civilizations.
00:35:29This idea spurred the emergence of a new field of research,
00:35:33known as extraterrestrial intelligence research, called CETI.
00:35:41CETI
00:35:46There were two different ways to study the signal.
00:35:50The first was limited to the search for spontaneous signals.
00:35:56These are powerful radio signals or beacons.
00:36:03However, these contained little information.
00:36:08The second was limited to the search for involuntary signals,
00:36:12that is, signals emitted by radio and television dispersed in space.
00:36:19They were often weak signals, but they contained a lot of information.
00:36:24In addition, at that time, Philip Morrison of the United States
00:36:28and Giuseppe Cocconi of Italy published an article
00:36:32proposing the hypothesis that electromagnetic waves,
00:36:36especially radio waves,
00:36:38are an efficient and cheap means for interstellar communication.
00:36:44Drake's equation, also called the Green Bank equation or formula,
00:36:49was introduced with the aim of giving a sequence
00:36:52to the various themes that had as their main theme
00:36:56the question of the search for life in the universe.
00:37:03Drake realized that the list of factors to know
00:37:06to be able to make contact with other intelligent civilizations was very long.
00:37:15He understood that it was necessary to know
00:37:18He understood that by multiplying these factors, a certain number was obtained.
00:37:24It was the number of detectable civilizations in our galaxy.
00:37:32Drake's equation is written as follows.
00:37:36n is equal to r multiplied by fs, by fp, by ne, by fl, by fi, by fc, by l.
00:37:52And here is the explanation of each factor.
00:37:56n is the number of intelligent civilizations that exist in our galaxy.
00:38:01r is the annual rate of star formation.
00:38:06fs is the fraction of stars similar to the Sun.
00:38:11fp is the fraction of stars with planetary systems.
00:38:16ne is the number of planets similar to the Earth.
00:38:21fl is the fraction of planets where there are forms of life present.
00:38:26fi is the fraction of planets where intelligent civilizations are present.
00:38:32fc is the fraction of planets with technologically advanced civilizations,
00:38:37capable of transmitting signals to space.
00:38:43And l is the average life expectancy of an advanced technological civilization,
00:38:49capable of transmitting these signals to space.
00:38:53To provide a very simplistic interpretation of the operation,
00:38:57if the result of n is less than 1,
00:39:00it would mean that the safest thing is that we are alone in the galaxy,
00:39:05while if the result is greater than 1,
00:39:08it would suggest the possibility of the existence of other civilizations.
00:39:12Initially, Drake and his colleagues obtained a minimum value of n equal to 20,
00:39:18while the maximum was calculated as n equal to 50 million.
00:39:26This theory has been used by scientists since the early days of the universe,
00:39:31and has been used by scientists since the early days of the universe.
00:39:36This theory has been analyzed many times since its origin.
00:39:41The main criticism is that having such a wide range of variables,
00:39:45depending on assumptions made on each factor,
00:39:49means that the results can vary a lot.
00:39:55It is used today as a kind of intellectual tool
00:39:59that stimulates the discoveries of the universe,
00:40:02as a kind of intellectual tool
00:40:05that stimulates discussions and curiosity
00:40:08about issues related to the existence of alien civilizations.
00:40:18In fact, if we think about today and its awakening,
00:40:22and with our modern knowledge of galaxies in the universe,
00:40:26Professor Piero Maddow has presented a mathematical framework
00:40:30to calculate the population of habitable planets
00:40:33in a range of 326 light-years from our Sun.
00:40:42Assuming that the Earth and the solar system are worlds
00:40:45that have good criteria to sustain life,
00:40:48Maddow calculated that the volume of this space
00:40:51could contain up to 11,000 rocky exoplanets the size of the Earth,
00:40:57in orbit within the habitable zone of the stars.
00:41:05As Maddow explained,
00:41:07his approach is to consider the local population of stars,
00:41:10exoplanets and temperate terrestrial planets
00:41:14as a set of mathematical equations
00:41:17that can be solved numerically depending on time.
00:41:22So, if microbial life forms as soon as it appears on Earth,
00:41:27life in the closest place to a planet like Earth
00:41:31should be less than 65 light-years from us.
00:41:40Thanks to technological advances such as space exploration,
00:41:44high-resolution astronomy, radio telescopes,
00:41:48planetary missions and data analysis,
00:41:51scientists of the 21st century have been able to probe more precisely
00:41:55in search of life signs.
00:42:03Basically, we have always talked about progress.
00:42:11It has taken scientists more than half a century
00:42:14to discover how many planets have the potential to house life.
00:42:22We started in 1961,
00:42:24when astronomers were not aware of the existence of worlds orbiting stars,
00:42:29in addition to those orbiting around the Sun.
00:42:36Until we reached the last decade,
00:42:39when it became clear that the existence of planets
00:42:42is so common that they outnumber the stars of the Milky Way.
00:42:51On average, almost all the stars, as mentioned before,
00:42:55have at least one world orbiting around them.
00:43:02Considering all the continuous positive discoveries,
00:43:05the hypotheses and questions had more space to discover.
00:43:13In fact, another important question that scientists have asked themselves
00:43:18is whether we should also study other stars that are not similar to the Sun.
00:43:27This is because several worlds the size of Earth
00:43:31have been discovered around smaller and colder stars.
00:43:36Perhaps other worlds should be considered planets.
00:43:40Many of the worlds observed by Kepler are large and gaseous,
00:43:44and therefore different from Earth.
00:43:52But we must also think about the diversity of species that exist only on Earth.
00:43:57How can we exclude the possibility that in the universe
00:44:01there are millions of other species completely different from us,
00:44:05but that they are alive?
00:44:11However, we know for sure that astronomers are trying to determine
00:44:16how many different species there are in the universe.
00:44:21However, we know for sure that astronomers are trying to determine
00:44:26the next part of the equation.
00:44:30The proportion of habitable worlds in which life will evolve.
00:44:38As we continue to explore the solar system,
00:44:41we find that the list of habitable places is long and diverse.
00:44:50Planets like Mars and Europe, Jupiter's frozen moon,
00:44:55could house microbial life, and even the toxic clouds over Venus
00:45:00could contain forms of life, as mentioned before.
00:45:07We are fully aware that the search for extraterrestrial life in the cosmos
00:45:12has obsessed us for a long time.
00:45:16Astronomers have wondered many times how to address this question,
00:45:22and for decades, some theories have been formulated that are interesting.
00:45:33Since the 1950s, when the bases of the CERTI were set,
00:45:38scientists have mainly used radiotelescopes
00:45:43to receive signals from distant stars.
00:45:51Initially, they scanned hundreds of millions of stars,
00:45:55only in our galaxy, and found very little.
00:45:59Then they launched the Breakthrough Listen project,
00:46:03which uses two of the most powerful radiotelescopes in the world
00:46:07to study more closely the radio frequencies
00:46:10of the millions of stars closest to us.
00:46:18Then they decided to broaden the horizons
00:46:21and use more modern and effective methods
00:46:24to find traces of life far from Earth.
00:46:30For example, they thought about the air inhaled or exhaled
00:46:34by extraterrestrial inhabitants of a planet.
00:46:40From a strictly biological point of view,
00:46:43living organisms are machines that consume fuel
00:46:47and expel waste products.
00:46:54Humans use oxygen and release carbon dioxide.
00:46:58Plants do the opposite, and some bacteria release methane.
00:47:04This creates a collection of gases
00:47:07that represents the distinctive biological footprint of the planet.
00:47:15The James Webb Space Telescope is powerful enough
00:47:19to provide information about the atmospheric composition
00:47:23of distant exoplanets,
00:47:25studying them when they pass in front of their mother stars.
00:47:30If we are lucky,
00:47:32we could detect their basic molecular structure.
00:47:40They have also begun to evaluate the presence
00:47:43of large infrastructures found on certain planets.
00:47:47The idea arose from the speculation
00:47:50of an English mathematician and physicist,
00:47:53Freeman Dyson.
00:47:59According to his theory,
00:48:01some technologically advanced alien societies
00:48:04may have built megaliths
00:48:06that would have been used
00:48:08in the construction of the universe.
00:48:11According to his theory,
00:48:13some technologically advanced alien societies
00:48:16may have built megastructures around their stars,
00:48:20and therefore giant artifacts
00:48:22that could be easier to find.
00:48:30They found the star KIC 8462852
00:48:35and decided to keep it under observation.
00:48:42This star is 1,480 light years from Earth,
00:48:47and the particular fact of it
00:48:49is that it shows an abnormal darkening
00:48:52of its brightness of up to 22%.
00:49:03This effect cannot be attributed
00:49:05to the temporal passage of a planet,
00:49:07considering that even a giant like Jupiter,
00:49:10would block a maximum of 1% of the solar light.
00:49:17Therefore, this effect has been attributed
00:49:20to the possible presence of alien megastructures.
00:49:27Scientists are still proposing other hypotheses
00:49:30to find other ways of searching
00:49:33for alien planets,
00:49:35in addition to those mentioned so far.
00:49:41They even came to think
00:49:43of a possible illumination
00:49:45caused by a potential alien city.
00:49:52They proposed the hypothesis
00:49:54that an advanced civilization,
00:49:56with limited light hours,
00:49:58would have to find a way
00:50:00to illuminate its world at night.
00:50:05An astronomer from Harvard University,
00:50:08Bill Loeb,
00:50:09explains that with telescopes
00:50:11you could observe the lights of Tokyo at night
00:50:14from any point of the solar system and beyond.
00:50:21However,
00:50:22they always consider the fact
00:50:24that the sea of lights to illuminate a planet
00:50:27orbiting the closest star
00:50:29would require a space telescope
00:50:3140 times larger than what is currently available.
00:50:39This fact will certainly not stop them
00:50:41in their research,
00:50:43because it is always possible
00:50:45that aliens have larger and brighter cities
00:50:48than Tokyo.
00:50:53Or that their way of knowing the brightness
00:50:56is different from what we know,
00:50:58or that while looking for lights,
00:51:00we could find bioluminescent algae banks.
00:51:08They are always ready,
00:51:10perhaps with a little luck,
00:51:12to find bright signals in the universe.
00:51:19Unfortunately,
00:51:21when it comes to technological progress,
00:51:23according to the Soviet astronomer Nikolai Kardashev,
00:51:27we are still absolute beginners.
00:51:33He proposed in the 1960s
00:51:35a scale that determines
00:51:37the capacity of a civilization
00:51:39to collect energy and heat.
00:51:47This is precisely the other hypothesis,
00:51:49considered by scientists
00:51:51to locate other worlds
00:51:53from residual heat.
00:51:59According to Kardashev's scale,
00:52:01type 1, K1,
00:52:03is where civilizations must use
00:52:06all the energy possible
00:52:08on their home planet.
00:52:14Those of type 2, K2,
00:52:17manage to collect all the energy
00:52:19of their mother stars.
00:52:22And those of type 3, K3,
00:52:24know how to exploit
00:52:26all the energy of their galaxy.
00:52:29On this scale,
00:52:31humanity is at level K0.73.
00:52:35However, civilizations K2 and K3
00:52:38logically should produce
00:52:40a large amount of residual heat,
00:52:42expressed in their infrared wavelength.
00:52:50This scale started the dazzling heat
00:52:53from the Alien Technologies project,
00:52:56which uses the WISE telescope
00:52:58of NASA.
00:53:02This telescope seeks
00:53:04precisely this radiation,
00:53:06which is emitted even
00:53:08in stellar formation processes.
00:53:16Even in the field of gases
00:53:18emitted by a planet,
00:53:20which could help
00:53:22the investigation,
00:53:24scientists and astronomers
00:53:26formulated a hypothesis
00:53:28about the study
00:53:30of polluting gases.
00:53:36If aliens really exist,
00:53:38and if perhaps some
00:53:40were in the same state
00:53:42in which we humans are,
00:53:44with an atmosphere full of
00:53:46polluting chemical substances,
00:53:48then it would be possible
00:53:50to detect them.
00:53:54Some chemical compounds
00:53:56used in aerosols
00:53:58or refrigerants
00:54:00that we have used on Earth,
00:54:02such as CFC,
00:54:04have created a greenhouse effect
00:54:06that leaves traces in our atmosphere
00:54:08for tens of thousands of years.
00:54:14This hypothesis
00:54:16is also supported
00:54:18by the James Webb telescope.
00:54:20Scientists are convinced
00:54:22that the amount of CFC
00:54:24in alien atmospheres
00:54:26should be ten times
00:54:28greater than on Earth.
00:54:34Therefore,
00:54:36there is a great window of possibilities
00:54:38for the birth of new discoveries.
00:54:46The last hypothesis that was made,
00:54:48and probably the most extreme,
00:54:50was that of a possible apocalypse.
00:54:54Apocalypse.
00:55:00Of course,
00:55:02it would definitely be a shame
00:55:04to find an extraterrestrial civilization
00:55:06at the time it ceases to exist,
00:55:08or after a nuclear explosion.
00:55:14But all this
00:55:16could make the atmosphere
00:55:18a hypothetical planet,
00:55:20and thus we could identify it.
00:55:28We could detect this energy,
00:55:30and even if the unfortunate
00:55:32alien civilization, instead,
00:55:34ends up being a victim
00:55:36of some biological killer agent,
00:55:38we could see from afar
00:55:40traces of methane and ethane
00:55:42that emanate from the decomposition
00:55:44of billions of bodies.
00:55:49If the destruction
00:55:51proceeded from small nanomachines
00:55:53that got out of control,
00:55:55replicating infinitely,
00:55:57pulverizing each resource of the planet,
00:55:59we could observe
00:56:01these traces,
00:56:03even from far away.
00:56:09Certainly,
00:56:11there are resources to use.
00:56:13At this point,
00:56:15it is evident the certainty
00:56:17that we are not alone,
00:56:19but we feel the need
00:56:21to go beyond.
00:56:23Also, we want to understand
00:56:25where these forms of extraterrestrial life
00:56:27are located,
00:56:29and then study and observe
00:56:31worlds different from ours.
00:56:37The TRAPPIST-1 system.
00:56:39The TRAPPIST-1 system.
00:56:45Among the most important discoveries
00:56:47that we have made
00:56:49in recent decades,
00:56:51we can mention the TRAPPIST-1 system.
00:56:57The TRAPPIST-1 system,
00:56:59discovered in 2016,
00:57:01is a fascinating planetary system,
00:57:03located in the Aquarius constellation.
00:57:09Approximately
00:57:1139 light years from Earth.
00:57:17It is known that it has at least
00:57:197 rocky planets the size of Earth,
00:57:21orbiting a red dwarf star.
00:57:29This planetary system
00:57:31has caught the attention
00:57:33of the scientific community
00:57:35and the public
00:57:37for a long time.
00:57:43The discovery of the TRAPPIST-1 system
00:57:45was made thanks to the use
00:57:47of a technique called
00:57:49the transit method.
00:57:55This method consists of observing
00:57:57the periodic variations
00:57:59of the star's brightness,
00:58:01caused by the transit
00:58:03of the planets it faces.
00:58:07This technique allows us
00:58:09to detect even small rocky planets,
00:58:11such as those of the TRAPPIST-1 system.
00:58:17One of the reasons
00:58:19why the TRAPPIST-1 system
00:58:21is so interesting
00:58:23is its mother star,
00:58:25called TRAPPIST-1.
00:58:29It is a red dwarf,
00:58:31much smaller and colder
00:58:33than our sun.
00:58:37The TRAPPIST-1 star
00:58:39has a mass
00:58:41compared to 9% of the sun
00:58:43and with a radius
00:58:45just a little larger than that of Jupiter.
00:58:51This means
00:58:53that it is much denser than the sun.
00:58:59Its low temperature
00:59:01makes the habitable area
00:59:03of the system much closer
00:59:05to the star
00:59:07than our solar system.
00:59:13The fact that the TRAPPIST-1 system
00:59:15has up to 7 rocky planets
00:59:17orbiting the mother star
00:59:19has aroused the interest
00:59:21and the questions
00:59:23of the scientific community.
00:59:29The discovery of many rocky planets
00:59:31in the same system suggests
00:59:33that it is not uncommon
00:59:35to find planetary systems
00:59:37with a large number of planets
00:59:39of this type.
00:59:43This discovery opens new perspectives
00:59:45for the search
00:59:47for extraterrestrial life.
00:59:55The 7 planets
00:59:57in the TRAPPIST-1 system
00:59:59are called TRAPPIST-1b,
01:00:01TRAPPIST-1c,
01:00:03TRAPPIST-1d,
01:00:05TRAPPIST-1e,
01:00:07TRAPPIST-1f,
01:00:09TRAPPIST-1g
01:00:11and TRAPPIST-1h
01:00:13in increasing order
01:00:15of distance from the mother star.
01:00:19All these planets
01:00:21are similar to Earth
01:00:23in size
01:00:25and orbit very close to TRAPPIST-1.
01:00:31The duration of the years
01:00:33on these planets
01:00:35varies from one and a half day
01:00:37on Earth
01:00:39to 20 days on Earth.
01:00:45The most fascinating discovery
01:00:47about the TRAPPIST-1 system
01:00:49is the presence of water
01:00:51on some of its planets.
01:00:53A study
01:00:55carried out in 2017
01:00:57suggested
01:00:59that at least
01:01:013 of the 7 planets
01:01:03of the system
01:01:05may have
01:01:07oceans of liquid water
01:01:09on their surfaces.
01:01:17This discovery
01:01:19is extremely interesting
01:01:21because water
01:01:23is considered one of the main requirements
01:01:25for the presence of life
01:01:27as we know it.
01:01:33Certainly,
01:01:35the proximity of TRAPPIST-1
01:01:37with Earth
01:01:39makes it an excellent candidate
01:01:41for future studies and observations.
01:01:43Currently,
01:01:45astronomers
01:01:47are trying
01:01:49to characterize
01:01:51the atmospheres
01:01:53of the planets
01:01:55of the TRAPPIST-1 system
01:01:57in search of clues
01:01:59about chemical compounds
01:02:01that may indicate
01:02:03the presence of life.
01:02:07This research
01:02:09requires the use
01:02:11of high-resolution telescopes,
01:02:13but it could provide
01:02:15important information
01:02:17about the probabilities
01:02:19of extraterrestrial life in the Universe.
01:02:33Certainly,
01:02:35we have realized
01:02:37how extraordinary and wonderful
01:02:39are the complexities of the Universe.
01:02:47We will continue exploring,
01:02:49asking questions,
01:02:51and looking for signs of life
01:02:53beyond our beloved planet Earth.
01:03:03The search for life in the cosmos
01:03:05is underway.
01:03:09Finding only one example
01:03:11of life outside Earth
01:03:13would show that biology
01:03:15is not a cosmic coincidence,
01:03:17but rather a probable result
01:03:19if the right ingredients are provided.
01:03:29And considering the number
01:03:31of real habitable places in the cosmos,
01:03:33many astronomers claim
01:03:35that life is essentially
01:03:37an inevitable phenomenon.
01:03:43Despite the challenges
01:03:45and uncertainties,
01:03:47the research of the Solar System
01:03:49and the Universe,
01:03:51and the discovery
01:03:53of extraterrestrial life forms
01:03:55is a fascinating and
01:03:57ongoing field of research.
01:03:59Each new discovery
01:04:01brings us closer to understanding
01:04:03our origins
01:04:05and our place in the Universe.
01:04:17The discovery of exoplanets
01:04:19has shown that our Solar System
01:04:21is only a small part
01:04:23of a vast and complex Universe
01:04:25with innumerable planets
01:04:27for life.
01:04:41However,
01:04:43what this documentary
01:04:45has tried to convey
01:04:47is the idea that the Universe
01:04:49could be a place full of life
01:04:51with other species
01:04:53that could be very different from us.
01:04:57This possibility
01:04:59raises important questions
01:05:01about our position
01:05:03and our role
01:05:05in the infinite fabric
01:05:07of the Universe.
01:05:15And although at this moment
01:05:17we have not yet discovered
01:05:19extraterrestrial life,
01:05:21human interest
01:05:23and curiosity
01:05:25push us
01:05:27to continue with the research.
01:05:43With the hope that one day
01:05:45we will make a discovery
01:05:47that will allow us to definitely
01:05:49answer the question.
01:05:51The question.
01:06:01Are we alone in the Universe?
01:06:21Are we alone in the Universe?
01:06:29Alien planets.