I don't know how many Whyvillians watch the TV news or read the newspaper,
but this story was a big deal a month or so ago.
Recently, in my science class, we studied the solar system. My teacher spoke
quite a bit to us about Saturn's largest moon, Titan. It turns out that scientists
all over are very interested in Titan.
Titan has all the chemical components necessary to support life. It has liquid
water, and enough gravity and air pressure as well to support some kinds of
life that we see on Earth. The only problem is that it's too cold.
Scientists believe that Titan looks very much what Earth looked like millions
of years ago. They believe that maybe millions of years in the future, Titan
will actually support life.
To me, this is a very creepy thought. I mean, I know we've all heard about
alien life in science fiction movies. Martians, outer space aliens and stuff...
but this is different. There may some day actually be life on another planet
nearby... actually, it's a moon, not a planet, but you get the idea.
I've thought about this quite a bit since my teacher introduced the idea to
our class, and it kind of scares me! I mean, think about it! It's not like people
from a foreign country, or a species of animal -- this would be a completely
different world, with a completely different race of beings. To me, that is
amazing!
Imagine it. Millions of years from now, there might be people (or whatever
they are) living on Titan, observing Earth and saying, "That's what Titan
looked like millions of years ago! We think there used to be life on that planet."
Of course, this may or may not happen -- we don't know for sure. But it's a
mind-boggling idea to me.
I hope you all enjoyed my article, and I encourage you to pursue this topic
and learn more about Titan.
This is snick, signing off...
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