Book contents
- Understanding Life in the Universe
- Understanding Life
- Understanding Life in the Universe
- Copyright page
- Reviews
- Contents
- Foreword
- Preface
- Acknowledgements
- 1 The Search for Extraterrestrial Life
- 2 Where in the Universe to Look?
- 3 Evolution – Here and Elsewhere
- 4 The Key Concept of Habitability
- 5 Life in the Solar System
- 6 Life in Other Planetary Systems
- 7 The Nature of Extraterrestrial Life
- 8 Intelligence – Here and Elsewhere
- Concluding Remarks
- Summary of Common Misunderstandings
- References and Further Reading
- Figure Credits
- Index
2 - Where in the Universe to Look?
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 28 October 2022
- Understanding Life in the Universe
- Understanding Life
- Understanding Life in the Universe
- Copyright page
- Reviews
- Contents
- Foreword
- Preface
- Acknowledgements
- 1 The Search for Extraterrestrial Life
- 2 Where in the Universe to Look?
- 3 Evolution – Here and Elsewhere
- 4 The Key Concept of Habitability
- 5 Life in the Solar System
- 6 Life in Other Planetary Systems
- 7 The Nature of Extraterrestrial Life
- 8 Intelligence – Here and Elsewhere
- Concluding Remarks
- Summary of Common Misunderstandings
- References and Further Reading
- Figure Credits
- Index
Summary
To look for life in the universe beyond Earth, we need to understand what is meant by ‘universe’, just as we need to understand what is meant by ‘life’. In the end, we can probably ignore most of the universe and focus our search in some very specific places. However, those places are best understood against a backcloth of what can be called – it’s an understatement really – the big picture.
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- Understanding Life in the Universe , pp. 20 - 38Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2022