Austrian Mint’s “Extraterrestrial Life” Named 2022-dated Best Bimetallic Coin
The Austrian Mint took home top honors in the Best Bimetallic Coin category in the Coin of the Year Awards for 2022-dated coins. The silver-niobium 25 euro, entitled“Extraterrestrial Life,” explores the question: Is there anybody out there or is all life in the universe limited to our tiny “third rock from the sun?”
The existence of life outside of Earth has fascinated humans for centuries. As the Austrian Mint writes:
What if there really is somebody out there? Making contact with aliens would change our whole concept of the universe. Is this really plausible or are such thoughts purely fantasy? Given that we only know a tiny part of the universe, which comprises some 100 billion galaxies, each with 100 billion stars, it is hardly surprising that we continue to ask these questions.
The coin prominently features the James Webb Space Telescope, which is currently our best and most high-tech hope for discovering extraterrestrial life. Launched into space in 2021, the Webb is the largest, most powerful and complex space telescope ever built and launched into space. Its improved wavelength coverage and greater sensitivity compared with those of its predecessor, the Hubble, will enable the Webb to look much closer to the beginning of time, when the first stars and galaxies started to form, and fundamentally alter our understanding of the universe.
Austria’s Extraterrestrial Life coin was designed by Anna Schlindner. On the obverse, the Webb is shown in the silver outer ring alongside the famous Drake equation, which is aimed at calculating the probability of extraterrestrial life. The violet niobium core is dominated by an alien holding the earth in its hands like a plaything, which the Austrian Mint says symbolizes that we may well be defenseless against them should they exist.
In the niobium core of the coin’s reverse, some of the factors that could favor life on other planets are represented: carbon dioxide, methane, oxygen, vegetation and water. In the outer silver ring, the Webb is shown capturing an exoplanet passing in front of a star.
The coin weighs 16 grams and has a diameter of 34 mm. Mintage of the special uncirculated coin is limited to 65,000.