Cool pic, dantonv08! This is one of the coolest things I've seen posted in this forum. I forwarded that to a friend whose kid is interested in astronomy. I remember I used to read whatever I could about astronomy and physics as a kid. That reminds me - I need to buy a telescope someday. lol.
So the bright lights we see in the sky are not stars but actually galaxies, correct? Even more incredible.
Considering how many factors have to line up to create life, and how long it took them to happen to create us, I have my doubts. I think life could have existed before us elsewhere, but concurrently would be an amazing coincidence considering all the random factors involved and in the time needed. <object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/p_nqySMvkcw&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/p_nqySMvkcw&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>
I'm of a similar opinion. Given the small amount of time we have been around this universe and the likelihood our civilization will have blown ourselves up long before we make a good go at interstellar travel, I doubt we'll ever run into anyone else. We've only been around a hundred thousand years or so. Let's say some intelligent life did visit our planet (not even likely but let's give that at least)... but they visited like 4 billion years ago. The likelihood of two intelligent, interstellar traveling civilizations meeting each other in the same space and the same time is infinitesimal.
this thoughts are typically human nature because our brains can only imagine certain dimensions. this is why we as humans can't understand how big the universe really is. we simply can't imagine it. reality is, though, that given the huge size of the universe those thoughts are actually totally wrong. in fact, the exact opposite is true. all the factors might have been totally random but because the universe is so big that doesn't matter at all. there are probably millions or billions of planets out there where all those factors have been matched as well. our own earth is really nothing special - in spite of what we may think about it.
I don't know that it would be that amazing of a coincidence if you go purely by the percentages. There is estimated to be in the 100s of billions of galaxies, which each galaxy having the potential of ~trillion stars, with each star having potentially it's own system of planets. Even if there was only a 1 in sextillion (that's equivalent to 1 billion x 1 trillion) chance of another planet supporting life of some form, there would be plenty of planets with life.
If aliens exist does that disprove religion? Lets say the same God made the universe, but we believe in Jesus. I know for a fact if aliens existed, even if they believed in God, they sure as hell wouldn't believe in the words of the Bible and Jesus since they take place on earth.
Amazing pictures!Thanks for sharing. Did anyone ever think about that us,the human beings,could actually be the "aliens"?We look so different compared to the other animals and plants.Maybe our predecessors came here and destroyed the dinosaurs,the most dominant force at the time, and for some reason leave humans(the less intelligent ones)here,and we concoured the planets Earth since then.
Maybe after the events in the bible, God got bored one day, waved his finger, and created life on another planet?
Thanks so much for the pics! I love astronomy. Last year, astronomers found the oldest/farthest galaxy to date ~13 billion years... even if we somehow traveled at the speed of light at 3e8 m/s, we would be in transit for just under 3 times the age of our Earth! Studying the universe is an exercise in humility.
