What’s a Nice Girl Like You Doing in a Place Like This?

Pursuing the Jabberwock Across the Mud, the Slime, and the Rest of the Galaxy

Penelope J. Boston

New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology, Socorro, NM

 & the National Cave and Karst Research Institute, Carlsbad, NM

          As a little kid, I wanted to cruise the galaxy looking for weird life forms…the more tentacles, the better.  Alas, there has been the small matter of inadequate transportation so far to accomplish this childhood aspiration.  Instead, I have turned my eyes inwards to our planet to seek out life wherever it is living on the edge.  Extreme temperatures, darkness, radical chemistry, no nutrients, heavy metals, ionizing radiation, being trapped for millennia within crystals…whatever would kill a more conventional example of Earth life is greeted with glee by my little pets.  At the dawn of our understanding of exoplanets around other stars, we can begin to compare what we know about extreme life on our planet with what we might find in our Solar System and far beyond.  The beginning of truly Comparative Astrobiology is now upon us.  Join me for a guided tour of the micro-aliens here on Earth, and speculate with me about life on Mars, Europa, Titan, Enceladus and good old HD 189733b.

The next general meeting of The Albuquerque Astronomical Society will feature guest speaker Dr. Penelope Boston. The meeting will take place on Saturday, September 5 at 7 p.m. in the University of New Mexico Regener Hall. For information, call 505-254-TAAS, or visit http://www.taas.org.