This may be a dumb question, but I'm not really a space guy. Ask me about AAU, fastpitch softball and Highlands football and I'll tell you. But this always amazes me...everyone says there is soooo much more out there. How do they know??? How do we know there is that much more out there? Have we been there? Is that just a scientific guess? How far can we actually see and identify?

 

BTW...I take the stand of until I see it, we are the only ones out there and its a useless debate. I'm not saying there isn't something out there is the place is as big as we think, but not really concerned about it until they attack!!!!

 

The Hubble Telescope can see between 10 and 15 billion light-years away. The farthest a human's naked eye can see when looking into the night sky is the Andromeda galaxy, which is located 2.6 million light-years from Earth. So the Hubble can see roughly 4,800 times further away than we can with our eyes.

 

For a little bit of a lesson in basic astronomy, planets are all parts of a solar system which revolves around a star, and stars (and their respective solar systems) are all parts of a galaxy, which revolves around a galactic center formed, basically, by a gravitational vortex that is caused by the combined gravities all of those stars. Each galaxy is out in space amongst other galaxies, and thus far, with use of the Hubble telescope, astronomers have estimated that there are roundabout 100 BILLION galaxies in the "observable universe" - or the area of the universe that we humans are able to see with use of our scientific tools.

 

For some more scale, the Milky Way, which is considered to be a "small" galaxy. The diameter of the M87 galaxy is roughly ten times the diameter of the Milky Way galaxy, and diameter of the Hercules A galaxy is roughly fifteen times the size of the Milky Way's diameter. With those scales in mind, in 2013, scientists estimated that there are approximately 40 billion planets in the various solar systems of the Milky Way galaxy, with approximately 8.8 billion of those planets being similar in size to the Earth and existing in what they would consider to be "habitable" distances of the stars that they orbit.

 

Now, do a little extrapolation on those numbers - 100,000,000,000 galaxies in the observable universe; 40,000,000,000 planets total in our (small) Milky Way galaxy; 8,800,000,000 scientifically "Earth-like" planets within our (small) Milky Way galaxy - and let your mind be blown.

The Hubble Telescope can see between 10 and 15 billion light-years away. The farthest a human's naked eye can see when looking into the night sky is the Andromeda galaxy, which is located 2.6 million light-years from Earth. So the Hubble can see roughly 4,800 times further away than we can with our eyes.

 

For a little bit of a lesson in basic astronomy, planets are all parts of a solar system which revolves around a star, and stars (and their respective solar systems) are all parts of a galaxy, which revolves around a galactic center formed, basically, by a gravitational vortex that is caused by the combined gravities all of those stars. Each galaxy is out in space amongst other galaxies, and thus far, with use of the Hubble telescope, astronomers have estimated that there are roundabout 100 BILLION galaxies in the "observable universe" - or the area of the universe that we humans are able to see with use of our scientific tools.

 

For some more scale, the Milky Way, which is considered to be a "small" galaxy. The diameter of the M87 galaxy is roughly ten times the diameter of the Milky Way galaxy, and diameter of the Hercules A galaxy is roughly fifteen times the size of the Milky Way's diameter. With those scales in mind, in 2013, scientists estimated that there are approximately 40 billion planets in the various solar systems of the Milky Way galaxy, with approximately 8.8 billion of those planets being similar in size to the Earth and existing in what they would consider to be "habitable" distances of the stars that they orbit.

 

Now, do a little extrapolation on those numbers - 100,000,000,000 galaxies in the observable universe; 40,000,000,000 planets total in our (small) Milky Way galaxy; 8,800,000,000 scientifically "Earth-like" planets within our (small) Milky Way galaxy - and let your mind be blown.

 

So you're telling me there's a chance?

So you're telling me there's a chance?

 

That got a good laugh out of me :lol2:

Frankly, it's pretty egotistical of us to believe that there isn't other life out there. Just because we don't have the technology to get there doesn't mean it's not there.

The Hubble Telescope can see between 10 and 15 billion light-years away. The farthest a human's naked eye can see when looking into the night sky is the Andromeda galaxy, which is located 2.6 million light-years from Earth. So the Hubble can see roughly 4,800 times further away than we can with our eyes.

 

For a little bit of a lesson in basic astronomy, planets are all parts of a solar system which revolves around a star, and stars (and their respective solar systems) are all parts of a galaxy, which revolves around a galactic center formed, basically, by a gravitational vortex that is caused by the combined gravities all of those stars. Each galaxy is out in space amongst other galaxies, and thus far, with use of the Hubble telescope, astronomers have estimated that there are roundabout 100 BILLION galaxies in the "observable universe" - or the area of the universe that we humans are able to see with use of our scientific tools.

 

For some more scale, the Milky Way, which is considered to be a "small" galaxy. The diameter of the M87 galaxy is roughly ten times the diameter of the Milky Way galaxy, and diameter of the Hercules A galaxy is roughly fifteen times the size of the Milky Way's diameter. With those scales in mind, in 2013, scientists estimated that there are approximately 40 billion planets in the various solar systems of the Milky Way galaxy, with approximately 8.8 billion of those planets being similar in size to the Earth and existing in what they would consider to be "habitable" distances of the stars that they orbit.

 

Now, do a little extrapolation on those numbers - 100,000,000,000 galaxies in the observable universe; 40,000,000,000 planets total in our (small) Milky Way galaxy; 8,800,000,000 scientifically "Earth-like" planets within our (small) Milky Way galaxy - and let your mind be blown.

 

:eyeonyou::eyeonyou::eyeonyou::eyeonyou::eyeonyou::eyeonyou:

:eyeonyou::eyeonyou::eyeonyou::eyeonyou::eyeonyou::eyeonyou:

 

Hurts your brain to think about, doesn't it?

The most compelling argument for intelligent life being out there is that it has never tried to contact us.

The most compelling argument for intelligent life being out there is that it has never tried to contact us.

One, they may be far more advanced than we are, there are a few billion people out there that I could use as exhibit A. And they don't feel the need to bother us primitive people.

 

Two, that just shows how massive the universe is. And we only began sending radio waves out less than 100 years ago. They may be like us and simply not looking/listening to the right area of space at the right time.

One, they may be far more advanced than we are, there are a few billion people out there that I could use as exhibit A. And they don't feel the need to bother us primitive people.

 

Two, that just shows how massive the universe is. And we only began sending radio waves out less than 100 years ago. They may be like us and simply not looking/listening to the right area of space at the right time.

 

And just the sheer vastness of the universe, would make contact difficult. It could take hundreds of thousands of years for any signal from a far off planet to reach us, in which time that civilization could be gone. Just using what we know in terms of physics, travel to any extra terrestrial world, is almost impossible. While there is a good chance is there is intelligent life out there, the chances of us encountering/finding it (or being found by then) are extremely remote.

One, they may be far more advanced than we are, there are a few billion people out there that I could use as exhibit A. And they don't feel the need to bother us primitive people.

 

Two, that just shows how massive the universe is. And we only began sending radio waves out less than 100 years ago. They may be like us and simply not looking/listening to the right area of space at the right time.

So, I'll play along. What if there is another life form(s) out there? Why is it that we are insistent that they are so advanced? Smart?

 

we watch waaaaaaay too many movies.

So, I'll play along. What if there is another life form(s) out there? Why is it that we are insistent that they are so advanced? Smart?

 

we watch waaaaaaay too many movies.

If you watch old sci-fi movies from only 50 to 60 years ago, many of the things that were only dreamed of by human beings have not only become reality, but in some cases are already obsolete. As I posted in another thread, since the early 1970s, computer processing power has doubled every two years.

 

If that trend continues, human beings (or our robot masters) 100 years from now may look at our technology as barely more advanced than what we had 100 years ago. It is not unreasonable to believe that if there is other life in the universe, then it may be far more advanced technologically than we are.

 

The pace of our own development of technology should convince us that advances are not linear, but at some point begins accelerating at an exponential rate. The only thing that will stop the current trend will be natural or man-made disasters.

If you watch old sci-fi movies from only 50 to 60 years ago, many of the things that were only dreamed of by human beings have not only become reality, but in some cases are already obsolete. As I posted in another thread, since the early 1970s, computer processing power has doubled every two years.

 

If that trend continues, human beings (or our robot masters) 100 years from now may look at our technology as barely more advanced than what we had 100 years ago. It is not unreasonable to believe that if there is other life in the universe, then it may be far more advanced technologically than we are.

 

The pace of our own development of technology should convince us that advances are not linear, but at some point begins accelerating at an exponential rate. The only thing that will stop the current trend will be natural or man-made disasters.

Sure, and it's maybe just as likely that on this distant planet, we'll call it Hypotheron for giggles, may be filled with single cell organisms. Maybe they battle over a racial divide like we do. The meiosis crowd vs the mitosis crowd.

 

It's also quite possible that we are the top of the intelligence meter if there are other life forms out there. We fantasize over what they might be. Has it ever occurred to any of us that maybe they haven't made contact because they aren't as intelligent as we are?, since we are throwing out theory.

Sure, and it's maybe just as likely that on this distant planet, we'll call it Hypotheron for giggles, may be filled with single cell organisms. Maybe they battle over a racial divide like we do. The meiosis crowd vs the mitosis crowd.

 

It's also quite possible that we are the top of the intelligence meter if there are other life forms out there. We fantasize over what they might be. Has it ever occurred to any of us that maybe they haven't made contact because they aren't as intelligent as we are?, since we are throwing out theory.

 

Either case is possible, as is every possibility in between. And because of distance involved and the thousands of years it takes the signals to reach, whomever (or whatever) we make contact with/find, could be vastly different or even non existent by the time we even know they existed.

Either case is possible, as is every possibility in between. And because of distance involved and the thousands of years it takes the signals to reach, whomever (or whatever) we make contact with/find, could be vastly different or even non existent by the time we even know they existed.

Now, I'm confused. :jump:

Now, I'm confused. :jump:

 

It's crazy to think about how huge the universe is. The light that we see from some stars originated hundreds of thousands of years ago. It's certainly plausible that any signal that we finally receive from some other world could have been sent eons ago, and that civilization may be long gone by the time we even knew it existed. And it's just as likely that any signal we send might not be seen by another world until we are long gone as well.