Australian observatory examines 10,000 galaxies

[6EQUJ5]

An Australian observatory recently used a radio telescope in New South Wales and the Canary Isles to look at a strip of sky.

Within the strip of sky some 10,000 galaxies were pinpointed and detailed measurements of their brightness taken to calculate how many stars they contained. That number was then multiplied by the number of similar sized strips needed to cover the entire sky and then multiplied again out to the edge of the visible universe.

Driver [head honcho] said there were likely many million more stars in the universe but the 70 s­extillion figure was the number visible within range of modern telescopes.

70 s­extillion is 70,000,000,000,000,000,000,000.

The average number of planets orbiting each of those stars could possibly be 7 or more. Those planets could have moons orbiting them. Some of those moons could be bigger than Earth.

Given all that real estate it is very likely that there is intelligent, technological life out there. But we may never even detect it nor it detect us. I.e. just to traverse the diameter of the Milky Way galaxy would take 100,000 years even travelling at the speed of light. It is a fundamental law of physics that nothing having mass can travel at the speed of light. Indeed we shall probably never travel at 5% of the speed of light.

It is a tad unfortunate that although it is almost certain that there is intelligent life out there we may never know of it and it may never know of us, the huge distances defeating the most advanced technology.

[Psaw]

You dont mention the fact that no evidence of life was detected in those galaxies. Given the vastness of the observation, it is disturbing that no signs of life was detected. You would think that such a vast sample would show something, even though on a cosmologic scale, it is small.

There is the possibility that this planet holds the only form of intelligent life anywhere. No earth like planet has been found, or even remotely close to it. In fact no observed planet holds the same identity as any other, never mind being the host to life.

The chances of life on Earth, taken from the beginning, or the big bang, or whatever our origins are, are so small as to be incalculable. We should not be here because the hostility to life throughout the Universe is immense.

Which brings us to why im sat here typing this. Its as if this planet has been manufactured for our use.

Make of that what you will.

St Brian of Blossom Crescent, off Norfolk Street.

[6EQUJ5]

'Within the strip of sky some 10,000 galaxies were pinpointed and detailed measurements of their brightness taken to calculate how many stars they contained'.

That is the limit of the technology, to discern the brightness of each of 10,000 galaxies, not to examine every square yard of every planet of every star within each galaxy. Furthermore, the examination of 10,000 galaxies is a minuscule proportion of the total number of galaxies.

It is obviously all but impossible that we on Earth are alone in this universe given the number of galaxies and star systems within each galaxy and numbers of planets per star. Even if only one planet in a million million was habitable the weight of that number is more than sufficient to reach the conclusion that the chances of us on Earth being the only intelligent life are extremely close to zero.

This planet has most assuredly not been manufactured for our use. In its entire history there have been 5 mass extinctions averaging at least 80% of life. By chance 60 million years ago an asteroid changed the hierarchy on this planet, otherwise today the dinosaurs would still be in charge after 310 million years.

We are almost certainly not alone in this universe. Indeed you believe that you have seen an alien craft, such belief destroying your argument that we are alone. This planet has not been manufactured for our use. It is merely one ordinary habitable planet orbiting an ordinary star in the backwater of an ordinary galaxy. There are likely to be lots of civilisations way out there but the real estate is so large that even with the most advanced technology it could be that none of them detects the presence of even its nearest neighbour.

[The_Clap]

We must not join any Galactic Union which is ostensibly set up to facilitate smooth trading. We do not want to be eventually subjected to laws made up by the likes of those c­unts from the Proxima Centauri star system.

[Psaw]

The article i read did say that they had the technology to detect the presence of life, i presume radio waves or gaseous emissions or whatever. Certainly i alone would be able to encapsulate the earth in gaseous emissions detectable by most of the Universe.

Not only is the presence of the earth improbable, but the Universe as it stands. Probably long before you were born i watched a documentary stating that a guiding intelligence must have produced the expansion of the Universe, because it was just right, not to expansive, or not enough.

The chances of it being just right were laughable, as it rested on so many things happening, and in the right order. As for life on earth, it must be like winning the lottery every week, spot on, for ten years.

If we are alone, it is as important as if we were not. My view is that life on earth is all about whos side your on. There is a reverse karma, good things are punished, bad are rewarded, as this is a realm of hell. Ultimately, you get your reward though, or punishment. Everything you do, or not do counts. Watch how you go.

A physical life is a boot camp.

[6EQUJ5]

You watched a documentary long before I was born, even though you do not know my age. This is a null argument as is your claim that the text of an ancient book has revealed hitherto unknown truths. Just because it is in a book or a video that does not make it the indisputable truth. There are documentaries and books about the Earth being flat.

The universe is simply as it is. It has no purpose and is neither benign nor hostile to life. It is not the creation of a celestial being.

Astronomers estimate that there are 6 million Earth like planets in that trivially small part of the universe called the Milky Way. They do not match Earth in every detail but they can sustain the sort of life that can develop into intelligent technological life. In 4 billion years we will need another home because our sun will be finished. There have actually been approximately 4,200 exo-planets specifically discovered including 20 that are Earth-like. To live on any one of them we would need to alter it to suit us, i.e. its gasses but by the time that we can get there we will have that ability. There is absolutely nothing special about Earth and it has not been tailored to our needs. We have evolved and used its fundamental existing resources such as oil and wood. We will gradually make more use of solar energy. It is quite likely that in a century we will get all our electrical energy from the use of a Dyson sphere.

[Psaw]

I did say probably in regards to your age, lets not be to sensitive. The rules you apply to my logic also applies to you, there are no objective reasons to believe your view, but there is mine.

If you are a cod in the north sea and another cod says there are humans, you wont believe it. Indeed, being human is the smallest part, that a human can fly, visit the moon, set off bombs, talk, and posses humour.

Using your logic, that would be instantly dismissed, when the gulf between a cod and a human exists. There is further evidence of a spiritual life through near death experiences, not only that, but people have been revived after half an hour of death, an hour, hours, and days, surely impossible using your logic. And then have no brain damage.

They are even able to witness events not connected to their deaths, including conversations etc.

Explain that then, i am sure you will try. You cant use logic to defend your position, then ignore it to explain the illogical. I hope you understand that. The reason mostly for god allowing those individuals to come back is to inform the rest of us there is life after death, a bit like the bible, and jesus on the cross, among other things.

The point i am making is that you are stuck in your thinking, that there is more, the Universe is not an empty vessel, empty of reason and purpose. There probably is further life somewhere, but it will serve the purpose of the creator, and not be pointless.

How have you arrived at your view, is it because no evidence exists about another life beyond this one?, well there is, but you wont acknowledge it, and the real question is to examine that.

I am communicating good news, allow yourself to enjoy it. If you think you have the holy grail of insight and knowledge you are so wrong, not only that but you cant move on. There is always something more in everything.

Just imagine the creator, the thing that has created this Universe, now your talking.

WOW.

[6EQUJ5]

My view is simply that it is more than likely that there is intelligent life out there because almost every one of countless planets is likely to have at least one of them in the habitable zone which has water or similar substance in liquid form and gasses which can sustain life. It is not a certainty that in most of these cases any form of life will ever begin. But a very small proportion of a huge number is likely to be a lot of cases.

Until we discover any form of life out there it is possible to legitimately deny that it exists. I merely state that it is likely to exist.

Where we disagree is on the matter of a creator who has uniquely made the Earth suitable for us to inhabit. The Earth is far from unique in this respect. Indeed of the 4,200 planets that have thus far been discovered 20 are Earth like. You have now altered your previously stated view that the Earth is the creator's sole effort with regard to intelligent life such that there may be some more.

As for spiritualism it is possible to state utter b­ollocks with complete conviction. Regarding religion there is the well known concept of assigning to God that which cannot yet be explained in science. This is well known as God Of The Gaps. Unfortunately for believers in such nonsense the gaps eventually get filled with scientific explanations. The only gap that remains is The Big Bang and there is significant scientific knowledge about that. In terms of gaps religious zealots speak of little else because their previous God Of The Gaps claims have all been snuffed out. "In the beginning ....." is totally accepted by the most eminent religious folk as being no more than 10,000 years ago. There have been human beings in our current form for at least 200,000 years. We should definitely not live our lives according to the ways of the Bible. Amongst its numerous serious flaws it is extremely misogynist.

As for the search, it is not easy to detect planets beyond our Milky Way Galaxy. Indeed within the Milky Way in the asteroid belt where Pluto is situated it is not easy. It is theorised that there is a 9th planet because of the effect that has been detected on the orbital behaviour of other objects out there. Pluto was the 9th planet until 2006 when it was relegated to the status of a Dwarf Planet.

[Psaw]

You havent done me the courtesy of answering any of the points i have raised, but instead, just try and further your own beliefs. How arrogant can it be that you think that being human is the apex of creation, albeit in a pointless fashion. We are intelligent, and if there are others like us, so what?

From your perspective.

Funnily enough in the paper today, there is a new theory combining mechanical theoretics of the Universe, and quantum mechanics. Its summation is that the Universe is a brain neuron. Some brain eh! Just one neuron, imagine a whole brain.

There is so much to take into account in trying to understand why in anything. To dismiss spooky stuff as Einstein called it is a big mistake, but you do it effortlessly, and with conviction.

I am not of your kind. I suspect your personality type forbids you from dealing in anything but facts, its a good job that some can see further than the ordinary, which we are just beginning to get a grip on.

Who would have thought in 1256, on May 10th, that the world would be powered by invisible power, and that your life depended on an invisible substance, You would have laughed at that, that if you cant see it, it doesnt exist. I gobble up information like a black hole, and project possibilities in everything. I left the slow lane behind in many many existences ago.

[6EQUJ5]

I am not here to be railroaded onto your agenda. Furthermore I have not stated that human beings are the apex of creation. Any life that we detect way out there will be more advanced than us. There may be life out there that is less advanced than us but we would have no way of detecting it because we tend to look for techno-signatures and bio-signatures of life. So we will discover only life that is more advanced than us and the level to which it is more advanced will be vast. The science fiction concept of life from numerous different planets being at the same level of sophistication will not occur. The Earth is 4.543 billion years old, our solar system is 4.571 billion years old, the Milky Way galaxy is 13.51 billion years old and our universe is 13.8 billion years old.

So there could be intelligent technological life that has evolved for billions of years more than we have. I believe this to be true but the sceptic can state that we have yet to discover evidence of anything as advanced as a microbe way out there, not that we could actually discover a microbe from where we are.

I do not debate on the subject of the existence of God, fairies or leprechauns. The evidence for the existence of each of the three is equally 'strong'.