Could there be life elsewhere in our own solar system?

[Neapolitan Ice Cream]

I'm not being silly. We know that life can exist without the sun and under intense pressure - think the hot vents at the bottom of the ocean, teeming with bizarre life forms. So why not Jupiter or Saturn? Why couldn't another strain of life exist in the gaseous outer layers? Doesn't have to be E.T. - could be a form of yeast, or an electrical storm interacting with its surroundings. Or maybe Venus? To us the atmosphere is deadly, but it shields the surface from solar radiation and again, life could exist, just not as you or I would conceive it. After all, the longest any probe has lasted on the surface was 127 minutes - more to uncover perhaps? Something more suited to the conditions there that might regard OUR Earth as totally inhospitable? And if we want to cling on to the idea that water is needed for life, we have other possibilities. I'm not thinking of Mars, although that's an obvious thought, but more of Europa, the moon. Under the icey crust (which is forever erupting and cracking) seems to exist a liquid ocean, possibly even warmed the further in you get. Why not life there? Again, life doesn't need the sun to exist and could take many forms - from little grey men to something completely beyond our understanding.

It boggles the mind.

 

[Genie+]

Moons are intriguing for ET, whether our solar system or beyond.

• Tidal Heating: The immense gravitational pull of gas giant planets creates tidal flexing within the moons, creating internal heat. This mechanism can maintain liquid water even far outside a star’s traditional habitable zone.