Earth may be a one and done deal for the universe.
A Swedish astrophysicist ran some numbers in a computer model and determined that of the 700 quintillion (that’s 700 x 10 to the power 18) planets estimated to exist, there is only one earth.
So, no green alien ladies then?
Rats
No kidding Sherlock
That is a hell of a lot better odds than the odds of cross-species evolution i.e. Darwinian evolution being a viable explanation for all life on planet earth.
Damn. And just when China is building that giant, alien-hunting telescope. Talk about bad timing.
Unless they’re building a death ray aimed at space. Oh shit.
…Annnd we have dueling astrophysicists:
http://www.cnet.com/news/the-milky-way-is-flush-with-habitable-planets-study-says/
?
When it’s all said and done, we’ll find the universe teeming with life.
The 3rd verse of the famous Rumsfeld ode goes like this, …but there are also unknown unknowns—the ones we don’t know we don’t know.
And there is only 1 me and 1 you! And…..they have no fricking idea how many planets are out there. A guess is a guess no matter how many letters after your name.
So you’re basically telling me I have better chance finding Earth II than winning Power Ball.
Yes, the universe is teeming with life.
But most of it is goo
The odds of us finding something remotely similar to us is almost zero. It’s not only where, but when. A million years in the past and how would we know they were here? A million from now and I won’t get to see it so who cares.
Having said that, the odds of finding another Earth are about the 700 boozillion or whatever to one.
When you take into account:
Type II Yellow star
And in the stable part of the star’s life
Goldilocks zone of that star
Extremely stable orbit around the star
Relatively quiet inner system free of debris caused by Big fat asses like Jupiter and Saturn out a ways to deflect 30% of inbound objects
One large, close, stable moon to provide tidal braking to slow the orbit down to a habitable
A slightly tilted orbit to provide for seasonal climates
A planet not tidally locked (like the moon is) so that one side of the planet does not face the sun all the time.
On and on and on
We have it nice here.
We should start fixing the place up, and getting rid of ISIS so we can enjoy it more.
…to a habitable speed (dang my fingers, anyway)
Goldilocks to the nth power. Intelligent design anyone?
Be it ever so humble there’s no place like home.
Anything is possible, they did find UrAnus.
I’m still trying to figure out photons.
Lazlo is not a literal interpreter of the Gospel, so for me; the wonder of our universe and all that is in it, only gives greater glory to our Creator.
No offense meant to others who might believe differently.
Discounting reflected light from the Earth, the Sun shines equally on all sides of the Moon.
But I get you were using Earth-Moon as a proxy Sun-Planet.
I agree with your take on the wonders of the Universe.
Oh sure, when those HuffPo types want to spout anti-earth exceptionalism they are all over the statement “billions and billions of stars, WE can’t be the only ones” Now they say we are a unique snowflake in the universe. 🙂
Strange thing about the universe is that there is no end to it. It would be even stranger if there was an end to it because, who could build a wall that big?
The point is moot in any event.
There could be intelligent life on one, or millions of planets in the universe and we will never be able to interact with them. Physics is cruel that way.
You would have to convert 2 pounds of matter directly to energy to merely accelerate 1 pound of matter to 1/10 the speed of light. It would take the energy near the output of our sun to get a very small spacecraft to nearby star systems in 3 lifetimes.
You could create two microscopic black holes and with one out front to compress space thus you begin to fall into the gravity well in front, while using the one behind you to expand space
There’s no ceiling unless you run into something.
I think we’re the first, at least in this galaxy to get this far. Our circumstances are so rare to be..astronomical.
If there will be any invading of any planets, I think we’ll be the ones doing it.
So we all tend to give science credence, even when it is not warranted. I will show you many examples of unwarranted credence tonight. But here’s an example to begin. This is the famous Drake equation from the 1960s to estimate the number of advanced civilizations in the galaxy.
N=N*fp ne fl fi fc fL
Where N is the number of stars in the Milky Way galaxy; fp is the fraction with planets; ne is the number of planets per star capable of supporting life; fl is the fraction of planets where life evolves; fi is the fraction where intelligent life evolves; and fc is the fraction that communicates; and fL is the fraction of the planet’s life during which the communicating civilizations live.
The problem with this equation is that none of the terms can be known. As a result, the Drake equation can have any value from “billions and billions” to zero. An expression that can mean anything means nothing. The mathematical appearance is deceptive. In scientific terms — by which I mean testable hypotheses — the Drake equation is really meaninglessness.
Author Michael Crichton from his speech “The Case for Skepticism on Global Warming.”
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This is NOT science. This is pseudo-scientific babble. We simply don’t know and until we get the infamous, “Take me to your leader” message, we never will. It’s a time-waster designed to make the brain-dead researchers look like they’re doing something meaningful, rather than just spending tax money we don’t have and can no longer afford.