The known universe is extremely large, beyond my apprehension. Just take a good look at one of Hubble Space Telescope's deep field pictures:
Just look at all the galaxies!!! All those galaxies have many, many stars and most of those stars have planets. That means there are so many planets in the universe that there is no number I know of that could express just how many there are. Now, don't you think that on some of them life of some sort must have gotten a start. It could be as simple as lichens but you have to admit that the are odds are very favorable for life on other planets in other solar systems and just think, there may be multiple universes, the multi-verse theory.
There is one huge problem. The distances are so very great, that it would take thousands of years for even radio waves to reach them. The closest galaxies are the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds, 160,000 light years to the LMC and 200,000 light years to the SMC. If there is life somewhere in these two closest galaxies, there would be no way of knowing unless they invented radio back 200,000 years ago or so.
The distances are just so very great that we may never know if there are any planets with life. Even if there were, the life may be nothing more than lichens or one celled organisms that far back in the history of our universe. So, are we alone? I don't know but I would like to think that we are not. Now go outside tonight and see if you can spot any flying saucers or aliens or. . . just have a good day, you hear?
Does that mean there is a chance I am smarter than some life form somewhere in the universe?
ReplyDeleteYep, and you are smarter than some life here on Earth, too.
DeleteDizzy, your response is sooooo funny! You got that right 100 percent!!
DeleteThe distances are huge and we thing we know a lot but I suspect we don't know enough yet to even ask the right questions.
ReplyDeleteI'd be delighted to see one of the private companies make it to the moon and set up shop or even the asteroids.
Yes I read too much science fiction .....
I like sci-fi, too, but sometimes the real thing is stranger than fiction.
DeleteI think the reason we are stuck is that we haven't yet discovered how to travel faster than the speed of light. So we are bound by that limitation, for now; I would bet there are other civiizations out there and they may even be visiting us.
ReplyDeleteIt seems that you may be right. There have been many sightings and some contact with them already. Gee, I wonder what is hidden in area 51?
DeleteProbably plenty is hidden there that we don't know about, and I think the government should come clean about it. We are paying for it and we have the right to know!
DeleteI believe there is far more going on 'out there' than what the human mind can imagine, comprehend, or accept. I don't know what it is but I just know that 'it is' and whatever it is it's far, far, greater than all of man's combined so called religious beliefs.
ReplyDeleteI agree. The human mind sure is limited, some more than others.
DeleteI do believe there is life out there and I also believe that they visit our planet constantly.
ReplyDeleteI have seen objects in the sky that I couldn't identify. One in particular left my mouth hanging open and me thinking, "what the heck was that"?
DeleteI am a firm believer that life does exist out there somewhere. I don't know what kind of life, but the Universe is just too big and expansive not to have some kind of life, including intelligent life (besides ours) in it .
ReplyDeleteYes, me too. It is way to large not to have some kind of life somewhere.
DeleteMore stars 'than grains of sand' There are 10 times more stars in the night sky than grains of sand in the world's deserts and beaches, scientists say. Astronomers have worked out that there are 70 thousand million million million - or seven followed by 22 zeros - stars visible from the Earth through telescopes.
ReplyDeleteFrom the Daily Telegraph. And they are only talking about stars viable from earth!
DeleteIt is beyond human understanding just how huge the universe is and there could be several more. And our universe is larger than we can comprehend. We can comprehend how far it is from Chicago to Houston, but not from Earth to the nearest star, not counting our star the sun.
ReplyDeleteI have several telescopes and the biggest, of course, is my favorite. It is taller than I am and the tube is a couple of feet in diameter containing a 16 inch diameter main mirror.
ReplyDelete