Observable Universe contains 10x more galaxies than previously thought (2016)
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Re: Observable Universe contains 10x more galaxies than previously thought (2016)
#2... isn't our error margin much larger than this?
Re: Observable Universe contains 10x more galaxies than previously thought (2016)
#3And some people still aren’t sure if there is other life beyond Earth. :)
That's entire galaxies. Not just stars, and that's just the observable universe.
We are still being surprised by the lifeforms we observe here on Earth, and the environments and conditions they can thrive in (including the outer hulls of our spacecraft), and we still have yet to discover and catalog all the life on our planet. Life may even come in the form of "artificial" constructs that build, learn, teach and reproduce on their own, created by "natural" life somewhere then set free into the cosmos.
How, when given the evidence of practically infinite planets out there (considering that almost every star may have at least one planet, and there are even rogue planets [0] that don't orbit any star, and that asteroids and comets or even dense nebulas could also harbor life), can we even consider the possibility that this is the only planet with life?
This game is Big, folks: Even if 90% of all planets had life there would still be billions if not trillions of them without any life, and the incomprehensibly vast distances (including voids, like the one our own galaxy is near or inside of [1]) between them may mean millions of years before life from one planet encounters life from another (which is good I suppose; every species would have some room to expand into at their own pace.)
And of course, not all intelligent civilizations will be "successful."
We will either die out on our home planet or expand.
We may not encounter other life for hundreds or even thousands of year after we develop interstellar travel, or the life that we encounter may turn out to be mundane and eventually unexciting (I mean, imagine being an spacefaring species discovering us; planetlocked and still collectively figuring many basic things out.)
Re: Observable Universe contains 10x more galaxies than previously thought (2016)
#4Just imagine all the stuff that's not giving off light or anything observable by us at this time. Rogue planets and what not should be everywhere no?
Re: Observable Universe contains 10x more galaxies than previously thought (2016)
#5Need less dark mass and dark energy then.
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Re: Observable Universe contains 10x more galaxies than previously thought (2016)
#6And some people still aren’t sure if there is other life beyond Earth. :) That's entire galaxies. Not just stars, and that's just the observable universe. We are still being surprised by the lifeforms we observe here on Earth, and the environments and conditions they can thrive in (including the outer hulls of our spacecraft), and we still have yet to discover and catalog all the life on our planet. Life may even com…
>How, when given the evidence of practically infinite planets out there (considering that every star has at least one planet, and there are even rogue planets [0] that don't orbit any star), can we even consider the possibility that this is the only planet with life?
For the "rogue" planets, it's easy -- we can be pretty sure they don't have any life.
For the others, we'll believe it when we see it.
Re: Observable Universe contains 10x more galaxies than previously thought (2016)
#7And some people still aren’t sure if there is other life beyond Earth. :) That's entire galaxies. Not just stars, and that's just the observable universe. We are still being surprised by the lifeforms we observe here on Earth, and the environments and conditions they can thrive in (including the outer hulls of our spacecraft), and we still have yet to discover and catalog all the life on our planet. Life may even com…
We don't know the probability of life arising from matter. We haven't replicated that emergence yet. If that p is something like 1/10^100 due to some compounding factors, we are alone in the observable universe.
Re: Observable Universe contains 10x more galaxies than previously thought (2016)
#8And some people still aren’t sure if there is other life beyond Earth. :) That's entire galaxies. Not just stars, and that's just the observable universe. We are still being surprised by the lifeforms we observe here on Earth, and the environments and conditions they can thrive in (including the outer hulls of our spacecraft), and we still have yet to discover and catalog all the life on our planet. Life may even com…
Infinity is fun :)
It reminds me of that (totally wrong) quote in The Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy that the population of the universe is mathematically zero.
The Universe is a very big thing that contains a great number of planets and a great number of beings. It is Everything. What we live in. All around us. The lot. Not nothing. It is quite difficult to actually define what the Universe means, but fortunately the Guide doesn't worry about that and just gives us some useful information to live in it.
Area: The area of the Universe is infinite.
Imports: None. This is a by product of infinity; it is impossible to import things into something that has infinite volume because by definition there is no outside to import things from.
Exports: None, for similar reasons as imports.
Population: None. Although you might see people from time to time, they are most likely products of your imagination. Simple mathematics tells us that the population of the Universe must be zero. Why? Well given that the volume of the universe is infinite there must be an infinite number of worlds. But not all of them are populated; therefore only a finite number are. Any finite number divided by infinity is zero, therefore the average population of the Universe is zero, and so the total population must be zero.
Art: None. Because the function of art is to hold a mirror up to nature there can be no art because the Universe is infinite which means there simply isn't a mirror big enough.
Sex: None. Although in fact there is quite a lot, given the zero population of the Universe there can in fact be no beings to have sex, and therefore no sex happens in the Universe.”
Re: Observable Universe contains 10x more galaxies than previously thought (2016)
#9And some people still aren’t sure if there is other life beyond Earth. :) That's entire galaxies. Not just stars, and that's just the observable universe. We are still being surprised by the lifeforms we observe here on Earth, and the environments and conditions they can thrive in (including the outer hulls of our spacecraft), and we still have yet to discover and catalog all the life on our planet. Life may even com…
> How, when given the evidence of practically infinite planets out there (considering that every star has at least one planet, and there are even rogue planets [0] that don't orbit any star), can we even consider the possibility that this is the only planet with life? For the "rogue" planets, it's easy -- we can be pretty sure they don't have any life. For the others, we'll believe it when we see it.
> For the "rogue" planets, it's easy -- we can be pretty sure they don't have any life.
Why?
Even if you assume all life requires heat and/or light, a rogue planet could produce heat/light from geothermal or other chemical activity.
A rogue planet drifting through certain nebulas might have more surrounding material for the processes of life to work with.
The life on a rogue planet may even be "artificial", say a colony of self-sufficient, self-replicating AI machines that originated elsewhere, but otherwise in-differentiable from "naturally-evolving" life.
Re: Observable Universe contains 10x more galaxies than previously thought (2016)
#10And some people still aren’t sure if there is other life beyond Earth. :) That's entire galaxies. Not just stars, and that's just the observable universe. We are still being surprised by the lifeforms we observe here on Earth, and the environments and conditions they can thrive in (including the outer hulls of our spacecraft), and we still have yet to discover and catalog all the life on our planet. Life may even com…
Infinity is fun :) It reminds me of that (totally wrong) quote in The Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy that the population of the universe is mathematically zero. The Universe is a very big thing that contains a great number of planets and a great number of beings. It is Everything. What we live in. All around us. The lot. Not nothing. It is quite difficult to actually define what the Universe means, but fortunately t…
I realise I'm arguing against a work of comedy, but:
> But not all of them are populated; therefore only a finite number are.
There are infinities of different sizes