Saint in Paradise Posted 27 February, 2011 Share Posted 27 February, 2011 http://news.discovery.com/space/milky-way-stuffed-with-50-billion-alien-worlds.html So who still thinks that us on Earth are unique ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LVSaint Posted 27 February, 2011 Share Posted 27 February, 2011 And that's just the Milky Way... Funny some of the comments on there...ie the first one specifically 'stating' how impossible it would be to be visited by any intelligent life basing their theory on our own primitive benchmarks and 'rules' of space travel. We are being visited and I have been abducted and probed. It's fun. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baj Posted 27 February, 2011 Share Posted 27 February, 2011 Some cracking comments there. I particularly like the "we needs vehicles that can travel faster than the speed of light to find life" and the guy using universal constants as to why life is on this planet but improbable elsewhere. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
norwaysaint Posted 27 February, 2011 Share Posted 27 February, 2011 One thing I always find odd is that people often expect an alien life-form to be technologically advanced. There are millions of species on Earth that have evolved to be very efficient and perfectly adapted to their environment, many that vastly outnumber us. There is only one species out of the millions on Earth that has any real interest in technology, if there is life anywhere else, the chances are they would be about as interested or aware of us as the average ant. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baj Posted 27 February, 2011 Share Posted 27 February, 2011 One thing I always find odd is that people often expect an alien life-form to be technologically advanced. There are millions of species on Earth that have evolved to be very efficient and perfectly adapted to their environment, many that vastly outnumber us. There is only one species out of the millions on Earth that has any real interest in technology, if there is life anywhere else, the chances are they would be about as interested or aware of us as the average ant. The general publics assumption about "intelligent life" is based on their own imagination, but actually there is a theory (and I'm buggered if I can remember where I read it) that says that our system is a "late bloomer", and that other systems with planets may have had billions of years head start on us, meaning not only would that have given them chances of developing into an intelligent space-faring species, but also enough time for that species to wipe itself out. We may well be the only life around for a fair distance in this galaxy, but only because we arrived late to the party. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pap Posted 27 February, 2011 Share Posted 27 February, 2011 Interesting stuff. Of course, much of the speculation about the likelihood of ever meeting our extra-terrestrial neighbours is rooted in special relativity, much as most scientific thought before SR relied on Newtonian physics. I'm not a physicist, so don't really know the details. However, Nikola Tesla didn't go for special relativity - and the scientific community is busy trying to fill the gaps. Also, history has shown that one paradigm shift can have massive consequences. We may be a lot closer to meeting our neighbours than we think, and the speed of light may not be relevant. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crab Lungs Posted 27 February, 2011 Share Posted 27 February, 2011 Some cracking comments there. I particularly like the "we needs vehicles that can travel faster than the speed of light to find life" and the guy using universal constants as to why life is on this planet but improbable elsewhere. Haha, that theory (Einstein's, I believe?) is now being challenged though, isn't it? I'm still a firm believe that alien life does exist, does visit this planet and because of the overwhelming evidence (you only have to go to YouTube and see some of the incredible videos - O'Hare airport etc) they'll never be a governmental disclosure as it's already blindingly obvious. Besides, it'll likely cause unnecessary "panic" - any excuse for people to rob, loot, steal and so forth... However, Nikola Tesla didn't go for special relativity - and the scientific community is busy trying to fill the gaps. Also, history has shown that one paradigm shift can have massive consequences. We may be a lot closer to meeting our neighbours than we think, and the speed of light may not be relevant. Do you mean a shift into a 4 dimension? As in, we can see beyond our own existence? Multiverse, others dimension etc? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crab Lungs Posted 27 February, 2011 Share Posted 27 February, 2011 On another note... I'd love to know what happens when we do find a habitable planet and who we'll use as guinea pigs to test the water, fauna, capture the animals etc :-o Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Verbal Posted 27 February, 2011 Share Posted 27 February, 2011 Haha, that theory (Einstein's, I believe?) is now being challenged though, isn't it? I'm still a firm believe that alien life does exist, does visit this planet and because of the overwhelming evidence (you only have to go to YouTube and see some of the incredible videos - O'Hare airport etc) they'll never be a governmental disclosure as it's already blindingly obvious. Besides, it'll likely cause unnecessary "panic" - any excuse for people to rob, loot, steal and so forth... Do you mean a shift into a 4 dimension? As in, we can see beyond our own existence? Multiverse, others dimension etc? Keep up crabby. The fourth dimension is general relativity and the multiverse comes from string theory (among others). The anthropic principle may explain more than we might hope - the idea that the universe is ordered precisely as we would wish to see it. Which is why we keep hoping for aliens. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baj Posted 27 February, 2011 Share Posted 27 February, 2011 Ah, my point was far more basic mr crabs, why do we need to travel their to prove it? Sure, we dont have the technology at the moment, but an advanced enough telescope will do the job sooner or later Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crab Lungs Posted 27 February, 2011 Share Posted 27 February, 2011 Too much Veritas Show and Coast to Coast AM has frazzled my tiny mind, sorry guys!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Draino76 Posted 27 February, 2011 Share Posted 27 February, 2011 One thing I always find odd is that people often expect an alien life-form to be technologically advanced. There are millions of species on Earth that have evolved to be very efficient and perfectly adapted to their environment, many that vastly outnumber us. There is only one species out of the millions on Earth that has any real interest in technology, if there is life anywhere else, the chances are they would be about as interested or aware of us as the average ant. I have seen my brothers cat play with my iphone before. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pap Posted 27 February, 2011 Share Posted 27 February, 2011 Haha, that theory (Einstein's, I believe?) is now being challenged though, isn't it? Do you mean a shift into a 4 dimension? As in, we can see beyond our own existence? Multiverse, others dimension etc? Well, by paradigm shift, I simply mean that one idea can change our understanding of everything, leading to massive leaps everywhere. Tesla's alternating current is a case in point, literally paving the way for the modern age. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Draino76 Posted 27 February, 2011 Share Posted 27 February, 2011 Just worked out on the back of my fag packet that there are 1950 advanced civilisations in the milky way. The nearest is 20 light years away. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deppo Posted 27 February, 2011 Share Posted 27 February, 2011 Melmac was destroyed by a nuclear war, so plenty of these planets are very advanced. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Saint_Jonny Posted 27 February, 2011 Share Posted 27 February, 2011 Ah, my point was far more basic mr crabs, why do we need to travel their to prove it? Sure, we dont have the technology at the moment, but an advanced enough telescope will do the job sooner or later Then we'd only be taking a look at the distant past, any hints at life we might spot using such telescopes may well have changed dramatically or be long gone. If only real life were like Star Trek... only 43 years til' the warp drive gets invented! Or something like that... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baj Posted 27 February, 2011 Share Posted 27 February, 2011 Then we'd only be taking a look at the distant past, any hints at life we might spot using such telescopes may well have changed dramatically or be long gone. If only real life were like Star Trek... only 43 years til' the warp drive gets invented! Or something like that... Good argument, but doesn't quite work... 99% of the exoplanets we search for are within 250 light years, the furthest away is under 5,000 light years. We're not search for an industrial revolution, just signs of life Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sheaf Saint Posted 27 February, 2011 Share Posted 27 February, 2011 Ah, my point was far more basic mr crabs, why do we need to travel their to prove it? Sure, we dont have the technology at the moment, but an advanced enough telescope will do the job sooner or later But the problem with that is that we would still be restricted by the speed of light. If we could invent a telescope powerful enough to look at the surface of a planet 200 light years away then we would be literally looking 200 years into the past. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baj Posted 27 February, 2011 Share Posted 27 February, 2011 But the problem with that is that we would still be restricted by the speed of light. If we could invent a telescope powerful enough to look at the surface of a planet 200 light years away then we would be literally looking 200 years into the past. Yes, but we're looking for signs of life, not an industrial revolution! We dont care what's happened in the previous 200 years, life takes millions of years to evolve, 200 years doesnt matter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sheaf Saint Posted 27 February, 2011 Share Posted 27 February, 2011 Sorry Baj, I see now that you have already addressed that point in your reply to Saint_Jonny. That'll teach me to read all of the posts on a thread before responding to one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baj Posted 27 February, 2011 Share Posted 27 February, 2011 Sorry Baj, I see now that you have already addressed that point in your reply to Saint_Jonny. That'll teach me to read all of the posts on a thread before responding to one. Hah, no worries. We all do it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Draino76 Posted 27 February, 2011 Share Posted 27 February, 2011 I can't believe no one has remarked on my fag packet maths; which in time will be regarded as the most prophetic post in the history of Earth based forums. For your punishment; I will not disclose my assumptions and calculations. You'll have to buy my book. Cigarette packet mathematics. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deppo Posted 27 February, 2011 Share Posted 27 February, 2011 Just remember that you're standing on a planet that's evolving and revolving at nine hundred miles an hour; that's orbiting at nineteen miles a second, so it's reckoned, a sun that is the source of all our power. The sun and you and me and all the stars that we can see are moving at a million miles a day in an outer spiral arm, at forty thousand miles an hour, of the galaxy we call the 'Milky Way'. Our galaxy itself contains a hundred billion stars. It's a hundred thousand light years side to side. It bulges in the middle, sixteen thousand light years thick, but out by us, it's just three thousand light years wide. We're thirty thousand light years from galactic central point. We go 'round every two hundred million years, and our galaxy is only one of millions of billions in this amazing and expanding universe. The universe itself keeps on expanding and expanding - in all of the directions it can whizz as fast as it can go, at the speed of light, you know, twelve million miles a minute, and that's the fastest speed there is. So remember, when you're feeling very small and insecure, how amazingly unlikely is your birth, and pray that there's intelligent life somewhere up in space, 'cause there's bugger all down here on Earth. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dubai_phil Posted 27 February, 2011 Share Posted 27 February, 2011 I think we should abandon all searches for Extra-Terrestial life. I mean just imagine, we invest all that time, effort & money and find a planet inhabited by Alpines Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crab Lungs Posted 27 February, 2011 Share Posted 27 February, 2011 Just remember that you're standing on a planet that's evolving and revolving at nine hundred miles an hour; that's orbiting at nineteen miles a second, so it's reckoned, a sun that is the source of all our power. The sun and you and me and all the stars that we can see are moving at a million miles a day in an outer spiral arm, at forty thousand miles an hour, of the galaxy we call the 'Milky Way'. Our galaxy itself contains a hundred billion stars. It's a hundred thousand light years side to side. It bulges in the middle, sixteen thousand light years thick, but out by us, it's just three thousand light years wide. We're thirty thousand light years from galactic central point. We go 'round every two hundred million years, and our galaxy is only one of millions of billions in this amazing and expanding universe. The universe itself keeps on expanding and expanding - in all of the directions it can whizz as fast as it can go, at the speed of light, you know, twelve million miles a minute, and that's the fastest speed there is. So remember, when you're feeling very small and insecure, how amazingly unlikely is your birth, and pray that there's intelligent life somewhere up in space, 'cause there's bugger all down here on Earth. I liked the ending, but it took me a helluva long time to get through the rest of it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deppo Posted 27 February, 2011 Share Posted 27 February, 2011 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Verbal Posted 27 February, 2011 Share Posted 27 February, 2011 Just remember that you're standing on a planet that's evolving and revolving at nine hundred miles an hour; that's orbiting at nineteen miles a second, so it's reckoned, a sun that is the source of all our power. The sun and you and me and all the stars that we can see are moving at a million miles a day in an outer spiral arm, at forty thousand miles an hour, of the galaxy we call the 'Milky Way'. Our galaxy itself contains a hundred billion stars. It's a hundred thousand light years side to side. It bulges in the middle, sixteen thousand light years thick, but out by us, it's just three thousand light years wide. We're thirty thousand light years from galactic central point. We go 'round every two hundred million years, and our galaxy is only one of millions of billions in this amazing and expanding universe. The universe itself keeps on expanding and expanding - in all of the directions it can whizz as fast as it can go, at the speed of light, you know, twelve million miles a minute, and that's the fastest speed there is. So remember, when you're feeling very small and insecure, how amazingly unlikely is your birth, and pray that there's intelligent life somewhere up in space, 'cause there's bugger all down here on Earth. Good, but no cigar. Here is a cigar (or, in his case, a huge spliff which always he smoked before writing stuff like this). http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p86BPM1GV8M Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hypochondriac Posted 28 February, 2011 Share Posted 28 February, 2011 I liked the ending, but it took me a helluva long time to get through the rest of it! Monty Python I believe. The light bit actually got me through a question in my physics exam! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thesaint sfc Posted 28 February, 2011 Share Posted 28 February, 2011 I saw Paul at the weekend. Interesting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trader Posted 28 February, 2011 Share Posted 28 February, 2011 It'd take a helluva telescope to spot an alien bacterium on a planet 200 light years away. You wouldn't be able to see anything on the surface anyway due to the glare and brightness of the parent star. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baj Posted 28 February, 2011 Share Posted 28 February, 2011 It'd take a helluva telescope to spot an alien bacterium on a planet 200 light years away. You wouldn't be able to see anything on the surface anyway due to the glare and brightness of the parent star. a) I wasn't referring to looking for microscopic life. Either side of an industrial revolution would do, either being able to spot cities (post) or large surface areas of vegetation (pre). The colour range that should show signs of vegetation would be easy enough to calculate based on the atmospheric content and distance from the star. b) Not true, we can already directly observe planets regardless of its star. And I'm talking about a massive advancement in telescopic technology. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aintforever Posted 28 February, 2011 Share Posted 28 February, 2011 There is of course the possibility that there is ****-all out there except a bunch of rocks and gases. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pap Posted 28 February, 2011 Share Posted 28 February, 2011 I bet the first alien life we find is in the form of fossils of long long dead species or civilisations. We haven't even got to the digging on mars stage yet. A lot can be covered up in a few billion years so who knows. I imagine there are countless civilisations both more and less advanced, past, present and future. We'd probably find something there. Mars, presuming it was present, would have been in the goldilocks zone in the earlier stages of the Sun's life. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LVSaint Posted 28 February, 2011 Share Posted 28 February, 2011 There is of course the possibility that there is ****-all out there except a bunch of rocks and gases. A possibility to those that go to church every Sunday perhaps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LVSaint Posted 28 February, 2011 Share Posted 28 February, 2011 We'd probably find something there. Mars, presuming it was present, would have been in the goldilocks zone in the earlier stages of the Sun's life. Mars appears to have harbored life at one point. It probably lost it's magnetic field long ago due to the core drying out resulting in the unprotected atmosphere being blasted away by solar wind. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trader Posted 1 March, 2011 Share Posted 1 March, 2011 a) I wasn't referring to looking for microscopic life. Either side of an industrial revolution would do, either being able to spot cities (post) or large surface areas of vegetation (pre). The colour range that should show signs of vegetation would be easy enough to calculate based on the atmospheric content and distance from the star. b) Not true, we can already directly observe planets regardless of its star. And I'm talking about a massive advancement in telescopic technology. You obviously have no idea of the distances and relative size of the objects involved here. The ONLY two ways of finding exoplanets are: 1. By observing the small "wobble" in the parent's star's motion due to the gravational pull of a probable gas giant planet in close proximity to the star. 2. The vanishingly small reduction in apparent light output of the parent star due to the transit of a planet across the star. No way could one see detail on the surface of that planet any more than you could see detail on a mosquito's bollock from 10 miles away as it flew across the sun. HTH Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aintforever Posted 1 March, 2011 Share Posted 1 March, 2011 A possibility to those that go to church every Sunday perhaps. It's not likely, but it's certainly a possibility. Scientists don't have a clue about the amount of intelligent ET life, your guess is as good as theirs - wether it's zero or a thousand trillion. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baj Posted 2 March, 2011 Share Posted 2 March, 2011 You obviously have no idea of the distances and relative size of the objects involved here. The ONLY two ways of finding exoplanets are: 1. By observing the small "wobble" in the parent's star's motion due to the gravational pull of a probable gas giant planet in close proximity to the star. 2. The vanishingly small reduction in apparent light output of the parent star due to the transit of a planet across the star. No way could one see detail on the surface of that planet any more than you could see detail on a mosquito's bollock from 10 miles away as it flew across the sun. HTH Thanks for the sarcasm. As it happens, I do have a very good grasp for both the subject and specifically the detection methods. To save myself the ridicule of reciting it from memory, I will reference wikipedia, since that will no doubt be what other people will reference to try to argue against me. There arent 2 ways of detecting planets, there are 7, of which direct imaging is one. And specifically my point was a MASSIVE ADVANCEMENT in telescopic technology in the coming years, NOT todays technology. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deppo Posted 2 March, 2011 Share Posted 2 March, 2011 Thanks for the sarcasm. Ban him from the main board Boj. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baj Posted 2 March, 2011 Share Posted 2 March, 2011 Ban him from the main board Boj. I dont do that sort of thing dippo. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Draino76 Posted 2 March, 2011 Share Posted 2 March, 2011 Poll please mods. "Is there anything out there?" That should resolve things at last. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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