Exobiology

I am interested in the search for life in the universe. A collection of information about exobiology appears on The Astrobiology Web.

There is a good deal of interesting stuff happening at NASA's Origins project.

The most exciting news, in my opinion, is that people are finding extrasolar planets. A planet search page is maintained by Geoff Marcy and Paul Butler at San Francisco State University. For an introductory article, try Giant Planets Orbiting Faraway Stars by Marcy and Butler. Exoplanets are cataloged in some detail, along with meetings and literature at the Extrasolar Planets Encyclopedia

Closer to home, Mars keeps turning up hopeful and ambiguous evidence of being a place where life could happen. Check out the photos at Malin Space Science Systems showing all sorts of things that look like they involve water. Likewise, the Jovian moons turn out to all have oceans (Io's is sulphur, never mind) with Europa being the best bet in the solar system for harboring life. NASA's Galileo probe is returning data on Jupiter and its moons.

Here are some other sites with relevant information:

• Kepler Mission, The - will set a photometric telescope in space to search for Earth-like extrasolar planets.
• Pulsar Planets Page - PSR 1257+12 is a billion year old neutron star orbited by 3 or more planets. Learn more about this first extrasolar planetary system on the pulsar planets pag e.