Although we don’t know yet whether life exists any place beside Earth, we do know that there are three key pieces of evidence that point to the fact that life should be common in the universe. One, the chemical elements that created life on Earth -hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, and almost two dozen other key elements are found nearly everywhere in the universe, and complex, carbon-bearing elements appear to form easily under conditions that should be common on many planets and moons; two, life thrives in a vast range of extreme conditions that are likely to be found in our Solar System and beyond; three, life appeared early in Earth’s history, make it probable that life is “easy.” The search for knowledge about the chemical composition of the universe is being taken to a new level with the release of spectacular new observations from the Herschel Space Observatory, including the UK-led SPIRE instrument.
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