Question: Hi Rosanna and Atreya, I really want to be an astronomer as well when I am older do you think there is such thing as a parallel universe and different life forms on other planets?

Rosanna Tilbrook answered on 13 Mar 2019:

That’s super awesome that you want to be an astronomer, I’m really glad to hear it! Not sure about parallel universes- it’s not something I spend a lot of time on- but it’s a possibility I think. There’s an interesting theory that says when you make a choice, every outcome of that choice that could occur happens in infinite parallel universes. I’m pretty sure the physical basis for that comes from quantum mechanics (which is very difficult and very bizarre branch of physics)!
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As for life on other planets- I do think that exists. And, I think most astrobiologists (people who study space biology) agree- but we’re not sure what this life would look like however. They could just be microbes, or plants, or something else small- we don’t know whether intelligent civilisations will always emerge from evolution, or whether something random happened on Earth that led to us. But, there’s 10 billion stars in our galaxy, and billions of galaxies in the Universe- why should only we exist out here? We’ve found that the building blocks of life (carbon, oxygen, hydrogen, nitrogen) are extremely common throughout the Universe- and we’ve found amino acids, which make up all of the proteins which are essential for life, on comets. If we found life on another planet or moon in our Solar System (which could happen), that would lead us to believe life is very common in the Universe, as we would have two separate examples around one of the trillions of stars.
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Wishing you the best of luck in becoming an astronomer- it’s an excellent career choice! I hope to see you at observatories or conferences in the future! 🙂