Some people are sure the universe supports extraterrestrial life while others remain skeptical, but if it does, this series of planets represents some of the most likely suspects, all showing different but remarkable and key similarities to Earth or other potentially life-supporting conditions.

Created by Futurism, the  infographic below highlights some of the critical features of these eight promising candidates, some similar in size, others in terms of orbital year and still others estimated to have close-to-Earth climate conditions and/or requisite materials to form the building blocks of life.

While they may range from a few dozen to thousands of light years away, there are increasingly promising spaceflight technologies being experimented with that might forever change how we view such currently-unfathomable distances. Even if they are forever out of reach, new astronomical tech may also hold the key to seeing whether these places have ever (or could) be home to other living beings.

The post Found in Space: 8 Exoplanets that Could Host Alien Life first appeared on Gajitz.

The idea of oceans on other celestial bodies orbiting our sun was once very much a thing of mystery, and a big deal in the case of Mars, but we have since discovered numerous surprising bodies of water on dwarf planets and planetary moons.

Water, particularly in liquid form, is critical to life as we know it, making such discoveries by probes and other robotic explorers all the more important to humanity. A NASA chief scientist was recently so bold as to claim the following at a conference: “I believe we are going to have strong indications of life beyond Earth in the next decade and definitive evidence in the next 10 to 20 years.”

Nor are extreme conditions necessarily life-prohibitive: “life, at least the simplest forms, may survive in more environments than once believed. Indeed, even on Earth, life is ubiquitous, from scalding volcanic vents to frozen wastes. And we may not, as it turns out, need to travel light years to find extraterrestrial oceans or observe our first alien life forms. The proverbial backyard may suffice.” Even at great distances from our planet, on cold spheres like Europa, liquid water can be found thanks to heat energy and friction. Whether we will find more than building blocks and elementary life within (or beyond) our star is hard to say, but news of known extraterrestrial life may indeed not be too far away.

The post Alien Waters: 9 Extraterrestrial Oceans in Our Solar System first appeared on Gajitz.