Alien Imagination

Several theories have been proposed about the possible basis of alien life from a biochemical, evolutionary or morphological viewpoint.
Alien life, such as bacteria, has been theorized by scientists such as Carl Sagan to exist in the Solar System and quite possibly throughout the Universe. No samples have been found, although there is some controversy about possible traces of life in Martian material (life on Mars), of which the most famous are on the Allan Hills 84001 meteorite. The term traces its etymological roots to two Latin words: extra ("beyond", or "not of") and‎ terrestrial ("of or belonging to Earth"). Despite the term's popularity, its antonym, extracelestial ("belonging to or from Earth"), is rarely used.
All life on Earth requires carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, sulfur and phosphorus as well as numerous other elements in smaller amounts, notably minerals; it also requires water as the solvent in which biochemical reactions take place. Sufficient quantities of carbon and the other major life-forming elements, along with water, may enable the formation of living organisms on other planets with a chemical make-up and average temperature similar to that of Earth. Because Earth and other planets are made up of "stardust", i.e. relatively abundant chemical elements formed from stars which have ended their lives as supernovae, it is very probable that other planets may have been formed by elements of a similar composition to the Earth's. The combination of carbon, hydrogen and oxygen in the chemical form of carbohydrates (e.g. sugar) can be a source of chemical energy on which life depends, and can also provide structural elements for life (such as ribose, in the molecules DNA and RNA, and cellulose in plants). Plants derive energy through the conversion of light energy into chemical energy via photosynthesis. Life, as currently recognized, requires carbon in both reduced (methane derivatives) and partially-oxidized (carbon oxides) states. It also appears to require nitrogen as a reduced ammonia derivative in all proteins, sulfur as a derivative of hydrogen sulfide in some necessary proteins, and phosphorus oxidized to phosphates in genetic material and in energy transfer. Adequate water as a solvent supplies adequate oxygen as constituents of biochemical substances.