Their goal is to answer a question that has gripped the human imagination since the beginning of our history. I mean it's the basic question everybody wants to know. I'm Katie O'Toole. And I'm Curt Parker. On today's program, we'll see how today's astrobiologists are laying the groundwork for you to become the alien hunters of tomorrow.
Astrobiology is the study of life on the moons and planets of the stars.
It's a new field of science, because until recently we had little reason to believe that the other planets and moons in our solar system might harbor life. And we had no evidence that stars other than our own sun had planets. Today, however, astronomers are discovering signs of planetary systems throughout our galaxy and beyond. And astrobiologists are finding life in the strangest places on Earth. In their quest to discover lively new worlds, astrobiologists believe that it takes one to know one.