Morning Show with Mary Jacobsen 2023-01-12 John Sheff NASA Solar System Ambassador by NCM Hub published on 2023-01-12T19:05:44Z Mary Jacobsen talks with John Sheff, a NASA Solar System Ambassador, about astrobiology, the interdisciplinary scientific search for extraterrestrial life, which seeks to understand how life arose and evolved on Earth and what makes a planet habitable. Sheff is an amateur astronomer and “space buff” who operates the observatory telescope during public nights at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in Cambridge. The quest for extraterrestrial life has been advanced by two recent discoveries. First, life forms have been found in extremely harsh environments on Earth, such as hydrothermal vents in the ocean floor. Second, numerous extrasolar planets have been discovered orbiting around stars other than our sun. To date, NASA has confirmed more than 5,000 “exoplanets.” (For more information, visit exoplanets.nasa.gov.) Imagining extraterrestrial life forms has in the past been the province of science fiction writers, but these two discoveries have supplied astrobiologists with a scientific basis for speculating about how conditions on other planets would determine the physiological possibilities of a reality-based “E.T.” Link to video version: https://youtu.be/tqmkCzMscVM GENERAL DISCLAIMER: All opinions expressed by the Program Participants are solely their current opinions and do not reflect the opinions of NCM Hub, PortMedia, and WJOP 96.3 FM Produced in Cooperation with the Public Access Facilities of PortMedia & Joppa Radio WJOP 96.3FM, a division of the Newburyport Community Media Hub. © Jacobsen 2023 Genre Entertainment