Believe It or Not: Mesa Connects To Extra-Terrestial Life

It's exciting to know that more news keeps getting posted even after months later from the Astrobiology Science Conference held here in Mesa in April 24-28 2017.

How thrilling is that when what happened here gets out ??

Sessions were live streamed, and the recordings of AbSciCon 2017 are now available on the NASA Astrobiology YouTube channel.

Conference website: http://www.hou.usra.edu/meetings/abscicon2017/.

AbSciCon 2017 is part of a series of conferences organized by the astrobiology community.

The theme for AbSciCon 2017 is “Diverse Life and its Detection on Different Worlds.”

Mars and icy worlds in our solar system are increasingly recognized as habitable, even as increasing numbers of exoplanets in their stars’ habitable zones have been discovered. The focus is shifting from identification of habitable worlds, to detection of life on them.

Among other topics, the conference presented the following, with the question remaining is there life out there? . . . and maybe we are not alone in the universe

 

Setting the Stage for Geochemistry

Setting the Stage for Biochemistry

Biomarkers of Life in Anaerobic Ecosystems and Different Evolutionary Stages

Biomarkers of Anaerobic Ecosystems

Biogeochemical Cycles on Water Worlds Near and Far

Biosignatures on Exoplanets

Preparing for Life Detection:  Astrobiology Education and Public Outreach

If that's all too technical for you to wrap your heads around, here's the latest news posted just a few hours ago:

A 'Pale Green Dot': Why Proxima Centauri b May Have a Shiny Tint

By Nola Taylor Redd, Space.com Contributor | October 9, 2017 07:00am ET

In August 2016 astronomers announced that a potentially Earth-like planet orbits Proxima Centauri, the closest star to the sun.

 

Learn about the exciting discovery in this infographic.See our full infographic here

 

Attendees @ AbSciCon 2017 April 2017 

". . . According to Luger, who presented the results at the Astrobiology Science Conference in Mesa, Arizona, in April, if Proxima Centauri b is a terrestrial world with an Earth-like atmosphere and a magnetic field, the green light of the oxygen auroras would grow 100 times stronger than on Earth.

Read more > https://www.space.com