Space

[Gareth]

Hi, just reading an article in the Irish Independent about OGLE (Optical Gravitional Lensing Experiment) Scientists who have discovered a potential earth-like planet (using the gravitional signature of the planet from the light emitted from it). This planet resides in the constellation Sagittarius and is 20,000 light years away. That if I am right would be roughly 200,000 trillion kilometers away. (Light moves at a velocity of about 300,000 kilometers (km) each second. So in one year, it can travel about 10 trillion km).

It got me thinking about distances and our tiny place in the scheme of things. The nearest big galaxy to ours is a stunning 21,000,000,000,000,000,000 kms away. Now this is were your head is going to get totally destoryed if you think too long on it, the Hubble telescope galaxy list contains 3000 galaxies. Its coverage so far is around an area of sky of only about 0.04 degrees on a side, meaning that we
would need 27,000,000 such patches to cover the whole sky. That means Hubble is probably capable of detecting 80 billion galaxies but that is only observable ones.

With an area of space so incredibly vast and that is only the small area we can barely observe, you really start to feel exceedingly tiny? With this in mind, our whole base of religion would seem slightly cocky? Do you think our religions would be destroyed if we discovered life elsewhere in space?

[Poor Student]

With an area of space so incredibly vast and that is only the small area we can barely observe, you really start to feel exceedingly tiny?

Not at all. I feel quite important knowing the sun and all else revolves around our flat slab of a planet.:D

[finlma]

I think it's impossible that we are the only planet with intelligent life form on it and naive to think otherwise.

If the universe was a beach we only have knowledge of about 5 or 6 grains of sand on that beach.

[Gareth]

the thing is if we discovered an inhabitable planet, it would be so far away that we would have no chance to reach it and even if we did, we are seeing what it looked like 20,000 years ago in the case of the planet named above. We are unfortunately far too finite to hope to see much as things stand.

[pedro]

WOW! good beach analogy!!

[Bald Student]

That article in the indo was complete rubbish. The method used can tell you the aproximate mass of the planet. From that the indo claimed that it could support human life, or maybe even already be inhabited by aliens.

[Macy]

From that the indo claimed that it could support human life, or maybe even already be inhabited by aliens.
Never was a paper more suited for a tabloid form, may as well go the whole hog and get a red top the rag that it is.

[Lionel Ritchie]

Patrick Moore was asked in 1999/2000 what his predictions were for the next thousand years and he opined that long before this millenium is out -man will have travelled to other worlds by way of non-combustion engine technology. I think he was referring to concepts such as folding space.

[Gareth]

Firstly the Independent article, I really don't like the paper, but I have to say I read it and it didn't exactly prompt me to think we are any closer to finding alien life on planets. Just that we may of located a planet that is of similiar size to potentially be suited to holding life if all conditions were ok. No alien talk really?

Yeah Quantum Physics is such an unbelievably amazing field. I understand about a second of it but I have read a few books on it and it looks like going down very cool roads!! Seeing as my area is computers, this is woah!!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantum_computer

We touched on some of this stuff in college and it remains the most interesting subject I ever did!!! (with AI)

[paul_oshea]

maybe even already be inhabited by aliens.


maybe its inhabited by humans, or maybe we are the aliens?!?!

dooooo- do - do do do - dooo dooooo.