ALIEN LIFE REQUIRES ASTEROID BELT LIKE OURS

ASTEROID BELTS COULD BE KEY
TO FINDING INTELLIGENT LIFE

www.huffingtonpost.com - Asteroid belts similar to the one between Mars and Jupiter appear to be rare beyond our solar system, implying that complex alien life may be rare as well, a new study reports. Fewer than 4 % of known alien solar systems are likely to have an asteroid belt like the one in our own neck of the woods, researchers found. Belts that look like ours may help spur the evolution of life, seeding rocky planets with water and complex chemicals but not pummeling the worlds with a constant barrage of violent impacts. 
“Our study shows that only a tiny fraction of planetary systems observed to date seem to have giant planets in the right location to produce an asteroid belt of the appropriate size, offering the potential for life on a nearby rocky planet,” study lead author Rebecca Martin, of the University of Colorado in Boulder, said. Most people regard asteroids as a threat to life. But asteroid impacts may have helped life get a foothold on our planet as well, scientists say. “Asteroids are thought to be a primary mechanism for distributing water and heavy metals across the Earth's surface, and possibly even the building blocks of life itself,” said Martin. 

For example, space rocks and comets likely delivered huge loads of water and organic compounds to the early Earth. And the theory of punctuated equilibrium suggests that occasional impacts could have helped accelerate the rate of biological evolution by disrupting the status quo and opening up new niches. Our solar system's asteroid belt formed where it did because Jupiter's powerful gravitational pull prevented the material in the region from glomming together to create a planet. And the belt looks as it does today because Jupiter moved just the right amount long ago. 
“To have such ideal conditions you need a giant planet like Jupiter that is just outside the asteroid belt [and] that migrated a little bit, but not through the belt,” said study co-author Mario Livio from Baltimore. “If a large planet like Jupiter migrates through the belt, it would scatter the material,” Livio added. “If, on the other hand, a large planet did not migrate at all, that, too, is not good because the asteroid belt would be too massive. There would be so much bombardment from asteroids that life may never evolve.”

A new study suggests that having the right kind of asteroid belt in a solar system could be essential to allow intelligent life in the universe – including here on Earth. "In our own history, if an impact hadn't killed off the dinosaurs, then mammals might not have evolved into intelligent life," said Rebecca Martin, from the University of Colorado. When you realize that the exactly right position of a big planet like Jupiter and the perfect asteroid belt (not too thick and not too thin) allowed evolution of complex lifeforms, there is no doubt that there is a much higher intelligence behind each of these details, an amazing perfect planning that allows all planetary systems may exist harmoniously.

WHAT DO THE VEDIC TEACHINGS TELL US? 

The chief engineer of a complicated construction does not personally take part in the construction, but he knows every nook and corner because everything is done under his direction. He knows everything about the construction, both directly and indirectly. Similarly, the Personality of Godhead, who is the supreme engineer of this cosmic creation, knows every nook and corner, although affairs are being carried out by demigods. Beginning from Brahmā down to the insignificant ant, no one is independent in the material creation. The hand of the Lord is seen everywhere. All material elements as well as all spiritual sparks emanate from Him only. And whatever is created in this material world is but the interaction of two energies, the material and the spiritual, which emanate from the Absolute Truth, the Personality of Godhead, Śrī Krishna.

Śrīla A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda :
Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (Bhāgavata Purāna)
SB 1.1.1 - Canto 1: “Creation”
Chapter 1: “Questions by the Sages”
Verse 1  -  http://vedabase.com

Published by dasavatara das - "Vedic Views on World News"
http://www.vedicviews-worldnews.blogspot.com.ar/