Martian Methane May Be Created By Lifeforms 297
Following our recent discussions about the growing evidence pointing to possible life on Mars, reader skywatcher2501 writes with news of a study that has ruled out one possible explanation for the levels of methane seen on that planet — that it might be replenished by disintegrating meteors entering the atmosphere. So two theories remain: either the gas is created as a by-product of reactions between volcanic rock and water, or it is a by-product of a lifeform's metabolism.
Re:Questions: (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Underground methane leaking? (Score:4, Informative)
don't really understand the point (Score:3, Informative)
The question isn't whether serpentinization is a source of methane, but rather whether it is the majority source or not. My take is that if the methane production was due to life on Mars, there'd be a lot more methane being produced than a few hundred tons a day. I don't see life on Mars staying in one place over millions much less hundreds of millions of years. But I suppose there's a chance it could happen that way (say if life on Mars is a relatively recent phenoma).
Re:Life on Mars (Score:4, Informative)
Re:This must mean... (Score:2, Informative)
"Also, first post BTW..."
Assuming "BTW" stands for "by the way", the issue is likely the redundancy - "also" and "by the way" are redundant.
Re:Life on Mars (Score:4, Informative)
The same, unfortunately, applies to Venus--is inadequate to hold onto the kind of atmosphere we'd be interested in, and would even if its role were reversed with Mars (which would also mean it would be too cold). We on Earth have the sweet spot positionally, in mass, gravitationally, in density, and all the other variables you could think of. I'm happy for it too! : )
Re:Life on Mars (Score:3, Informative)
[Titan is] definitely larger than both Earth or Mercury (thou only by ~1000km on its diameter)
No it isn't [wikipedia.org].