<b>K2-18B</b>
Distance: 111 Light Years.
Size: 2.7x Earth.
<b>K2-18B</b>
Distance: 111 Light Years.
<b>K2-18B</b>
"We have barely scratched the surface.
Nature's trove of secrets is bottomless."
"We have barely scratched the surface.
Nature's trove of secrets is bottomless."
We know that the galaxy is awash in water.
We know that the galaxy is awash in water.
It’s awash in organic molecules,
and complex chemistry.
All of the things that we know were
necessary for life to begin on this planet
exist on abundance throughout the galaxy.
Did something similar to what happened on our own planet
happen on those other planets?
"Looking at the raw numbers, the existence of alien life
seems almost inevitable."
"The latest data suggest that up to 1/4 of stars have rocky planets
orbiting in their habitable zone - the right distance for liquid water."
"In our Milk Way galaxy alone, that's ~50 billion worlds like Earth."
"In the entire universe, the possible number of habitable planets is staggering:"
"In the entire universe, the possible number of habitable planets is staggering:"
100,000,000,000,000,000,000.
"Imagine each flash of light represents an Earth-like planet."
"You would have to watch this animation for over a billion years to view them all."
"Each one with a history as rich and unique as Earth."
"Trillions and trillions of chemical soups, stewing for eons."
There are more habitable
Earth-mass planets in the observable volume
of the universe than there are grains of sand
on all the beaches on Earth.
"Among this abundance of worlds,
many will be deadly to life as we know it."
"There will be planets in the habitable zone that are
scorched, frozen, and suffocated by poison gases."
"Many will lack an atmosphere, critical for temperature regulation,
or have one that is deadly."
"Venus, once thought to potentially support life,
is now sterilized by a crushing, toxic atmosphere."
"But life may not be confined to the habitable zone."
"Far from the warmth of their star, the moons
of giant gas planets may be hidden oases for life."
"Their energy comes not from starlight, but from gravity -
the lurching push and pull of the host planet."
"Icy Enceladus has it all: a huge subsurface ocean
with hydrothermal vents spewing the chemistry of life."
"Titan is especially alluring - larger than Mercury
and speckled with methane lakes and organic compounds."
"In 2026, NASA plans to send a drone to Titan,
seeking out signs of life in its valleys and craters."
"There may be 100 trillion exomoons in our galaxy alone -
100 times the number of planets."
"Some may even be Earth sized,
with atmospheres and surface water."
"With so many places to find life, it seems only a matter of time
before we make a discovery."
"Some think we already have."
"On June 30, 1976, the Viking lander on Mars
found something that still remains unexplained."
"After being injected with nutrients, Martian sol samples
expelled signature radioactive gas - just like soils from Earth."
Sterilized Soil |
Sterilized Soil | Sterilized Soil |
Sterilized Soil | California Soil | Martian soil
"Was this signal a natural phenomenon, or our first
encounter with alien biology?"
The discovery of just one bacteria on Mars,
or any other body of the Solar System
would indicate that the whole chain of evolutions.
Cosmic, chemical and biological,
is at work everywhere.
In that case,
the creation of life anywhere in the universe
would be more the rule than the exception.
"If we haven't found life already, it may not be long until we do."
"NASA scientists now think we are on the verge of discovery."
"NASA scientists now think we are on the verge of discovery."
Within all of our lifetimes we're going to understand
"NASA scientists now think we are on the verge of discovery."
that there is life on other bodies in the Solar System.
that there is life on other bodies in the Solar System.
We're going to understand the implications of that
for evolution of life here on Earth.
We're going to find planets around
other stars that we can say
we see potential signs of habitability in their atmospheres.
That's all going to happen in the next 10 to 20 years.
How exciting is that?
We're on the verge of things that the
people have wondered about for millennia:
"Are we alone?"
And here we are on the verge of finding that out.
"If we do find life out there, what will we discover about ourselves?"
"What chapter is Earth in the story of life?"
The universe is nearly 14 billion years old.
And our galaxy is something like 12 billion years old.
So, there could be life out there
that could be dramatically more advanced
than the life that we have here on this planet.
"Is Earth a latecomer on the cosmic stage?"
"Just how ancient could life be?"
100 Thousand Years Ago
1 Million Years Ago
5 Million Years Ago
10 Million Years Ago
50 Million Years Ago
100 Million Years Ago
200 Million Years Ago
300 Million Years Ago
400 Million Years Ago
500 Million Years Ago
1 Billion Years Ago
2 Billion Years Ago
3 Billion Years Ago
4 Billion Years Ago
5 Billion Years Ago
10 Billion Years Ago
13.8 Billion Years Ago
Event: The Big Bang
"For its first few million years, the cosmos was too hot for life as we know it."
"The ambient temperature would have boiled you alive."
Event: The First Star
"When it was finally cool enough for life, there were no stars and planets.
Only huge lumbering clouds of hydrogen."
"After 70 million years, gravity took hold of these clouds
and spun them into the first generation of stars."
"The first stars were massive and bright,
but there was no life to watch them rise."
"Vital heavy elements were still being forged in their hot stellar cores.
Not even the Big Bang was hot enough to create them."
"Vital heavy elements were still being forged in their hot stellar cores.
Not even the Big Bang was hot enoughto create them."
The only elements that were created on The Big Bang were hydrogen,
The only elements that were created on the Big Bang were hydrogen,
helium and a little bit of lithium.
All the stuff that makes your life livable
those elements weren't created on the Big Bang.
The only place they were created
is in the fiery cores of stars
and the only way they could get into your body
is if the stars were kind enough to explode.
Event: Death And Rebirth
"The explosive death of the first mid-sized stars
seeded the cosmos with the ingredients for life."
"From their ashes rose a second generation of suns -
this time with rocky planets dancing around them."
"This is the moment: the raw ingredients for life together
for the first time, ~13.7 billion years ago."
"Some believe the conditions for life existed even earlier, in the warm afterglow of creation."
"As the heat from the Big Bang faded,
the universe passed through a goldilocks era."
"Some 15 million years after time began,
the ambient temperature reached a balmy 75º F (24º C)."
"For millions of years, it was warm in all directions,
like an endless summer day on Earth."
"In theory, stars and planets could have formed this early on,
in hypothesized ultra-dense regions of space."
"If such regions existed, liquid water could have flowed abundantly,
even on rogue planets far from any star."
"Could this have been dawn of life?
Alien beings feeding off the heat of the Big Bang?"
"Somewhere out there may be a planet with life
nearly as old as the universe itself."
"With a 10 billion year head start, the universe could be teeming with
life far more advanced than our own."
"Despite decades of searching, no sign of alien life
has ever been confirmed, intelligent or otherwise."
"So where is everybody?"
"Could we really be alone?"
"Maybe primitive life is common, but intelligence is exceedingly rare."
"Maybe space is just too vast for feasible communication."
"Or maybe we are the first."
"Could we be the opening chapter in a sprawling history of life?"
13.8 Billion Years
14 Billion Years
15 Billion Years
16 Billion Years
17 Billion Years
18 Billion Years
19 Billion Years
20 Billion Years
"The universe is young, and the vast majority
of planets have yet to be born."
21 Billion Years
"The universe is young, and the vast majority
of planets have yet to be born."
22 Billion Years
"The universe is young, and the vast majority
of planets have yet to be born."
23 Billion Years
"The universe is young, and the vast majority
of planets have yet to be born."
24 Billion Years
"The universe is young, and the vast majority
of planets have yet to be born."
25 Billion Years
"The universe is young, and the vast majority
of planets have yet to be born."
30 Billion Years
"The universe is young, and the vast majority
of planets have yet to be born."
35 Billion Years
"The universe is young, and the vast majority
of planets have yet to be born."
40 Billion Years
"The universe is young, and the vast majority
of planets have yet to be born."
45 Billion Years
"The universe is young, and the vast majority
of planets have yet to be born."
50 Billion Years
"The universe is young, and the vast majority
of planets have yet to be born."
55 Billion Years
"The universe is young, and the vast majority
of planets have yet to be born."
60 Billion Years
"The universe is young, and the vast majority
of planets have yet to be born."
65 Billion Years
"The universe is young, and the vast majority
of planets have yet to be born."
70 Billion Years
"The universe is young, and the vast majority
of planets have yet to be born."
80 Billion Years
90 Billion Years
100 Billion Years
110 Billion Years
120 Billion Years
130 Billion Years
140 Billion Years
150 Billion Years
"The ingredients for life will be stewing
for another 100,000,000,000,000 years."
200 Billion Years
"The ingredients for life will be stewing
for another 100,000,000,000,000 years."
250 Billion Years
"The ingredients for life will be stewing
for another 100,000,000,000,000 years."
300 Billion Years
"The ingredients for life will be stewing
for another 100,000,000,000,000 years."
350 Billion Years
"The ingredients for life will be stewing
for another 100,000,000,000,000 years."
400 Billion Years
"The ingredients for life will be stewing
for another 100,000,000,000,000 years."
450 Billion Years
"The ingredients for life will be stewing
for another 100,000,000,000,000 years."
500 Billion Years
"The ingredients for life will be stewing
for another 100,000,000,000,000 years."
600 Billion Years
"The ingredients for life will be stewing
for another 100,000,000,000,000 years."
700 Billion Years
"The ingredients for life will be stewing
for another 100,000,000,000,000 years."
800 Billion Years
900 Billion Years
900 Billion Years
"From this perspective, we are the dawn:
the opening melody in a symphony of life."
1 Trillion Years
"From this perspective, we are the dawn:
the opening melody in a symphony of life."
2 Trillion Years
"From this perspective, we are the dawn:
the opening melody in a symphony of life."
4 Trillion Years
"From this perspective, we are the dawn:
the opening melody in a symphony of life."
8 Trillion Years
"From this perspective, we are the dawn:
the opening melody in a symphony of life."
16 Trillion Years
"From this perspective, we are the dawn:
the opening melody in a symphony of life."
32 Trillion Years
"From this perspective, we are the dawn:
the opening melody in a symphony of life."
32 Trillion Years
64 Trillion Years
70 Trillion Years
80 Trillion Years
90 Trillion Years
95 Trillion Years
~100 Trillion Years Later
Event: Last Star Dies
~100 Trillion Years Later
"What might come long after us?"
"Red dwarf stars can live up to 10 trillion years,
bathing their planets in starlight for eons."
"Life is much more probable on these time scales,
where conditions are stable for vast periods of time."
"Any beings living close to these stars would have to contend
with violent solar flares that continually threaten extinction."
"Many of these planets would be tidally locked - one side permanently
exposed to the sun, the other frozen in darkness."
"But as Earth has taught us, life is remarkably adaptable."
"What forms might life take when it has trillions of years to evolve?"
"One day, somehow, the story of life will come to an end."
"If we are the first chapter of that story, we have the chance
to carry the torch of life far into the future."
"And if biology does persist far into the future,
then we live in a privileged moment."
In later chapters, the universe will seem far different.
"The expansion of spacetime will make distant stars invisible,
and the night skies will go dark."
"Perhaps life in the far future will wonder:
What it was like to live in the universe's brilliant early days?"
"We are lucky enough to know the answer."
"All we have to do is look up."
Hand Crafted By Melodysheep
Hand Crafted By Melodysheep
Supported By
Hand Crafted By Melodysheep
Supported By
Protocol Labs
Supported By
Protocol Labs
Featuring The Voices Of
Protocol Labs
Featuring The Voices Of
Douglas Rain
Featuring The Voices Of
Douglas Rain
Orson Welles
Douglas Rain
Orson Welles
David Christian
Orson Welles
David Christian
Michelle Thaller
David Christian
Michelle Thaller
Andrew Siemion
Michelle Thaller
Andrew Siemion
Dan Werthimer
Andrew Siemion
Dan Werthimer
Avi Loeb
Dan Werthimer
Avi Loeb
Ellen Stofan
Avi Loeb
Ellen Stofan
Lawrence Krauss
Ellen Stofan
Lawrence Krauss
Concept, Music & Visuals By
Lawrence Krauss
Concept, Music & Visuals By
Melodysheep / John D. Boswell
Concept, Music & Visuals By
Melodysheep / John D. Boswell
Additional Visuals By
Melodysheep / John D. Boswell
Additional Visuals By
Julius Horsthuis
Additional Visuals By
Julius Horsthuis
Konstantin Kovalenko
Julius Horsthuis
Konstantin Kovalenko
NASA
Konstantin Kovalenko
NASA
Evolve
NASA
Evolve
Special Thanks To
Evolve
Special Thanks To
Juan Benet
Special Thanks To
Juan Benet
Julius Horsthuis
Juan Benet
Julius Horsthuis
Konstantin Kovalenko
Julius Horsthuis
Konstantin Kovalenko
My Patreon Supporters
Konstantin Kovalenko
My Patreon Supporters
Support This Production At
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Support This Production At
patreon.com/melodysheep
Support This Production At
patreon.com/melodysheep
Melodysheep.com
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