Creation myth part 2

Part 1 ended with Planets being formed around second generation Stars.

Planets are clumps of matter not massive enough to be stars, Jupiter the most massive planet in our system is almost there. If it was twice as massive it would burst into light and we would live in a binary system. There are lots of binary systems out there.

There are gas giant planets, there are 4 in our system, and small rocky planets with no gas atmosphere we have lots of those, the asteroid belt is full of them. There are also medium sized rocky planets with thin gas atmospheres, we have 3 of them.

All 3 of them are in a narrow band with no others in between, seems to be their place. Venus, Earth and Mars. Earth is in the middle and looks blue because of all the Oxygen in the atmosphere. Venus is too hot for our liking and Mars is too cold. Earth is in the very narrow Goldilocks zone.

It´s likely that all Stars have a Goldilocks zone, even Jupiter has such a zone, with Europa the Moon within it. Some will have a Planet within it, we have no idea of the percentage as yet.

Life is likely on a Planet within a Goldilocks zone, the time has come for Life to develop. It is probably sprouting everywhere. We are amongst the first instances, and others at our stage of development are probably too far away in Space for their radio waves to have reached us yet.

If we survive as a Species and continue to develop technologically, we will become one of the Elder Species in our Galaxy, our local collection of Stars. It would be good for us to behave responsibly. Any encounter between Spacefaring Species will be fraught with danger. Difference in technological development could be vast. I suggest that rather than judge a Species by our own standards, it would be fitting to judge them by their own, how do they treat the less developed they meet?

This question is only now becoming important. We have been to the Moon and have sent robots to Mars, so far we have not found any signs of Life. We have explored our system with unmanned probes, that´s how we discovered that Europa has an ocean of liquid water beneath its ice shell. There may be Life under that ice. There are certainly volcanic vents, the heat from the core of the moon is how the water is kept liquid. There are life forms on Earth that have developed in just those conditions, around deep sea volcanic vents. With a bit of luck the life (if any) there will be at the stage of single cell organisms. Because we are bound to trash the place.

There is no fault in that, we don´t know any better. We are still pushing other Species and even isolated groups of our own Species, into extinction on our own Planet...

Suppose though that intelligent Life is there in Europa. The beings will have no conception of the rest of the Universe, they see no Stars, may not have eyes, they live under a roof of ice. They will almost certainly be aquatic and have no reason to be gas breathing, there may not be any dry land. So we shall come as a total surprise. We will not recognize their intelligence, we cannot understand our closest relatives, Chimpanzees, Gorillas, Orangutans. Let alone Dolphins, Elephants or Lions although they all have societies and obviously communicate between themselves. What chance do we have to understand such different beings?

Maybe we should leave Europa be for a bit. Content ourselves with using the materials we find on rocky planets and moons. Wait until we can understand other Species on Earth and have adjusted ourselves to allow them to live.