Alien Life Bound to be Found in Failed Stars, Study Shows

Planets outside the solar system and alien life have been very tricky subjects in the realm of astronomy for quite some time. Interestingly, new studies suggest that alien life can actually be found in stars, not on planets.

Across the Milky Way are perhaps a billion of cold dwarf stars, all many times as massive as Jupiter but not strong enough to ignite stars.

A new study suggests that they may have upper temperatures and pressures resembling that of Earth, and could host microbes that surf on these updrafts.

According to Science Magazine, Jack Yates from the University of Edinburgh, who led the study, said the idea expands on the concept of a habitable zone that will include a vast population of "worlds" that had previously been unconsidered.

Science Magazine reported that biologists have already deduced that microbes may drift in the winds high above the Earth's surface. Carl Sagan even envisioned a kind of ecosystem that would evolve in the upper layers of Jupiter that may be fueled by sunlight in 1976. These may be balloon-like "floaters" that could rise and fall in the atmosphere by manipulating body pressure. Others even speculate the same kind of life forms may exist in the carbon dioxide atmosphere above Venus's surface.

Yates and his colleagues applied the same thing, but to another new realm of "worlds": cold brown dwarfs. Since their discovery in 2011, it was known that cold brown dwarfs have surfaces roughly at room temperature or below, which means they are darn comfortable for anyone. According to Science Magazine, scientists soon discovered that WIS E0855-0714, a brown dwarf only seven light-years away, may have water clouds in its atmosphere.

Yates and his colleagues will try to update Sagan's calculation to identify the sizes, densities and life strategies of microbes that could manage to stay aloft in the habitable region of such a large atmosphere of predominantly hydrogen gas. If they sink, they can be cooked, while if they rise too high, they may freeze.

Yates and his colleagues will report their progress in an upcoming issue of the Astrophysics Journal. Regardless, the survivability of such creatures still depends on the weather of such brown dwarfs. For instance, powerful winds in brown dwarfs similar to those in Jupiter or Saturn can make rise to heavier creatures. If there's no sunlight, they can feed on chemical nutrients.

Observations of cold brown dwarf atmospheres reveal most of the ingredients of Earth life: carbon, nitrogen, hydrogen and oxygen.

While the idea is strange, it may be worth considering. According to Duncan Forgan from the University of St. Andrews, who was not involved but is close with the team, it may open up the field in terms of objects that may be involved with habitable regions.

Still, testing for life would require anticipating a strong spectral signature of microbe byproducts such as methane or oxygen. Other issues include explaining how life could arise in an environment that lacks water-rock interfaces like hydrothermal vents. This is where life on Earth was thought to begin.