How quickly can we travel 'way out there'? Can 'they' detect us and travel to here?

There are 400 billion stars (i.e. 'suns') in our Milky Way galaxy, probably all of them having planets orbiting them. There are at least 2,000 billion galaxies in the known universe, there may well be more, we do not yet know. So how far are human beings (or indeed any life forms) ever likely to travel? Well, if we could travel at the speed of light it would take 200,000 years to travel across just our Milky Way galaxy. In the great scheme of things that is nowhere.

Are we ever likely to travel at the speed of light? No, thus far the fastest crewed spacecraft ever constructed would have to travel at 270 times its best speed in order to achieve a speed slightly less than 1% of the speed of light.

It is a fundamental law of physics that the only thing that can travel faster than the speed of light is the ongoing expansion of the universe. Nothing with mass can travel at the speed of light. Anything in the radio spectrum has no mass and can travel at the speed of light. Such things in the radio spectrum are radio signals, television signals, radar signals, radio telescope signals, laser signals etc.

Former D-Ream keyboard player Brian Cox reckons that in the Milky Way there are either zero or 1 other intelligent civilisations. Outside the Milky Way there may be more but even if we detect any we will not meet them and communications travelling at the speed of light may take hundreds of thousands of years to travel in each direction. Our crewed craft will not travel outside the Milky Way. Even getting near to the edge of the Milky Way is extremely unlikely. This is because on Earth we are a distance (yes, distance) of 50,000 light years from the centre of the Milky Way and 50,000 light years from the edge of the Milky Way. So, at light speed it would take us 50,000 years to reach the edge of the Milky Way. As described above our fastest crewed craft to date would need accelerating by 270 times to reach slightly less than 1% of light speed.

It is highly unlikely that there is an intelligent civilisation within a distance of 1,000 light years. We have searched by radio telescope. From further away than that they will not know that we exist because they will detect Earth as it was 1,000 years ago. I.e. it takes 1,000 years for light / radio signals / television signals / radar signals / laser signals etc to travel a distance of 1,000 light years from Earth to wherever 'they' are. The civilisation will not detect any signs of technology nor any signs of the gases in the atmosphere being altered, so no sign of intelligent life on Earth.

We are travelling nowhere and nobody is travelling towards us. Nobody knows that we exist. No matter how scientifically advanced a civilisation is it cannot break the laws of physics, especially in terms of speed of travel.

The above is science fact. There are eccentric people, especially in the USA who do not like science fact. They make up science fiction and try to present it as science fact. They refuse to get their science fiction scientifically tested.

It is also science fact that it is possible to travel faster than the speed of light. When this universe was born, it expanded FASTER than the speed of light. for a while. Fact. I also read somewhere that it is possible to travel faster than light in quantum mechanics.

Space is physical. There was a time when it was thought that it was impossible to travel to the moon, it isnt now. As a child i remember, on the sky at night, seeing mars as a blob, with seemingly canals on it.

Now i can wander across its plains via various rovers.

You are making the mistake that because technology is as it is, it will always be like that, not so is it. As previously mentioned, if you think it, it becomes reality. There is the obsevation that the only limits the human mind has, is the limits our our imagination.

Now thats a thought to ponder on. If you want to travel to the next galaxy, in the same way you might visit Spotland, suddenly a pathway opens up, in many ways. Scientists are addressing that now and they will get there.

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Originally Posted by Psaw

It is also science fact that it is possible to travel faster than the speed of light. When this universe was born, it expanded FASTER than the speed of light. for a while. Fact.

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I have already clearly stated that the universe is expanding at a rate faster than the speed of light, so this is a null point from you. You have failed to read my post correctly.

But nothing else can travel faster than the speed of light. Only that which has no mass can travel at the speed of light, such as light and anything in the radio spectrum.

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Originally Posted by Psaw

As previously mentioned, if you think it, it becomes reality.

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I am thinking about s­hagging the last ten Miss Worlds. I will let you know when it has become reality.

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Originally Posted by Psaw

If you want to travel to the next galaxy, in the same way you might visit Spotland, suddenly a pathway opens up, in many ways. Scientists are addressing that now and they will get there.

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Let me know when it has happened. Let me know which credible scientists are working on it.

I believe in a somewhat modified version of 'think it and it happens'. There are probably a few absolute geniuses who, in their minds, have invented something that will not see the light of day for another 10 years. At the moment there is a practical problem such as the lack of a particular raw material or the horrendous expense of a v­ital part. So, those very few people can think it and it is as good as invented, just delayed by the current lack of the particular raw material or the expense of a v­ital part.

The IDMS database software was invented in the 1960s but not implemented because memory and disc space was expensive. IDMS used a vast amount of both and nobody could believe that both would ever drop in price and increase in capacity such that IDMS would ever run. By the late 1970s IDMS was the most used mainframe database software worldwide because memory and disc space was no longer a problem.

New developments are merely incremental to current scientific knowledge and possibly inhibited by current cost. They do not challenge the fundamentals of physics. Such developments are probably happening at DARPA and the Lockheed Martin 'Skunk Works' all the time. They can access incredible amounts of money, which may bring forward such developments to make a prototype now. But this is merely about money, not challenging the known fundamentals of physics.

Oh, so us humanids know all there is to know about physics then? So the universe expanding faster than the speed of light does not contain mass then. I think you will find it does. As for shagging miss worlds, that cant be hard. If you put your mind to it.

My understanding of all that there is is not yours, maybe we should leave it at that. Which scientists arnt questioning all we know, including visiting alpha centuri, like catching a bus from Soham to Waterbeach.

In the year 354, that wasnt possible in ten minutes.

If you are aware of any other civilisations that know more about the fundamental laws of physics please provide proof that such civilisations exist.

I have twice stated that the expansion of the universe occurring faster than the speed of light is the only exception to the rule that nothing with mass can travel at or faster than the speed of light. Radio spectrum signals can travel at the speed of light. Otherwise
nothing with mass can travel at the speed of light.

Of course engineers, physicists etc will always be thinking of fast travel of all kinds. But as stated much earlier the fastest crewed craft ever built would need to travel 270 times faster than that in order to travel at slightly less than 1% of the speed of light. In the end the fundamental laws of physics are such that nothing with mass (except the expansion of the universe) can travel at or faster than the speed of light. Even if a craft could travel at the speed of light, in the great scheme of things we are going nowhere. At 1% of the speed of light (which is more than 270 times the best ever speed of a crewed craft) it would take 436.7 years to reach Alpha Centauri, which is only 4.367 light years away.

Let's pretend that travelling at the speed of light is possible. At that speed it would take our craft from Earth 50,000 years to reach the perimeter of the Milky Way Galaxy, which is one of at least 2,000 billion galaxies. We are certainly not travelling outside the Milky way. We are going nowhere and nobody is coming to visit us because we are certainly at least 1,000 light years away from any other civilisation, so with light taking at least 1,000 years to get there they would detect Earth as it was at least 1,000 years ago, having nothing in the radio spectrum leaking out and no obvious altering of natural gases. So at that time Earth was not occupied by a technological civilisation and thus it would now be ignored by a civilisation trying to detect proxies of intelligent technological life.

My understanding is that the ever increasing spaces between galaxies is expanding, and it is that that drives the expansion that is ever speeding up.

The mass furthest away from us is travelling faster than the speed of light. I may be wrong, i will look it up. To say we can never go faster than light means we never will, because we wont be looking.

To find out if we can.

Yes I began by stating that the universe is expanding faster than the speed of light. That is not an issue. At the periphery the rate of the expansion is, as you state, faster than light. There may be a formula by which the rate of expansion of the space between galaxies can be anticipated, otherwise the distance can be periodically measured.