Interesting Space Facts.

Interesting Space Facts.

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Discussion

Eric Mc

121,779 posts

264 months

Monday 23rd January 2017
quotequote all
R E S T E C P said:
Eric Mc said:
How do you know if civilisation lasts long enough to carry out such a monumental task?
What's killing them and when will it kill us?
The massive cloud of alcohol mentioned above.

jmorgan

36,010 posts

283 months

Monday 23rd January 2017
quotequote all
R E S T E C P said:
Eric Mc said:
How do you know if civilisation lasts long enough to carry out such a monumental task?
What's killing them and when will it kill us?
Red Button syndrome?

We are very lucky to have got this far. Bt in such discussions I think "when" is often forgotten about.

BrerRabbit

18 posts

86 months

Monday 23rd January 2017
quotequote all
jmorgan said:
R E S T E C P said:
Eric Mc said:
How do you know if civilisation lasts long enough to carry out such a monumental task?
What's killing them and when will it kill us?
Red Button syndrome?

We are very lucky to have got this far. Bt in such discussions I think "when" is often forgotten about.
In incremental steps over hundreds/thousands/millions or whatever number of years it's likely not a "monumental task" at all. We went from rowing across oceans to stepping on the moon in a few hundred years. Stepping stones.

Eric Mc

121,779 posts

264 months

Monday 23rd January 2017
quotequote all
I don't think you truly appreciate how mind boggingly big space is - as noted by Douglas Adams.

jmorgan

36,010 posts

283 months

Monday 23rd January 2017
quotequote all
BrerRabbit said:
In incremental steps over hundreds/thousands/millions or whatever number of years it's likely not a "monumental task" at all. We went from rowing across oceans to stepping on the moon in a few hundred years. Stepping stones.
Indeed we did but are we are the only measuring stick we have. I think it would be folly to expect aliens to do exactly as we do. Maybe they did faff around with a middle ages and went nuclear early on, maybe they had a nicer life and thought "space, meh!". Maybe the same rate. Until we meet one and ask them, we do not know. Well, meet on, I expect we find evidence in the planets first, probably never meet face to face.


Or, maybe they are at this moment in time, a puddle of evolutionary goo with a few million years to go yet.

alock

4,224 posts

210 months

Monday 23rd January 2017
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R E S T E C P said:
So where are they?
I like this description http://waitbutwhy.com/2014/05/fermi-paradox.html

BrerRabbit

18 posts

86 months

Monday 23rd January 2017
quotequote all
Eric Mc said:
I don't think you truly appreciate how mind boggingly big space is - as noted by Douglas Adams.
I don't think you truly appreciate how mind boggingly long there has been to achieve it - as noted by Enrico Fermi.

BrerRabbit

18 posts

86 months

Monday 23rd January 2017
quotequote all

colin_p

4,503 posts

211 months

Monday 23rd January 2017
quotequote all
BrerRabbit said:
jmorgan said:
R E S T E C P said:
Eric Mc said:
How do you know if civilisation lasts long enough to carry out such a monumental task?
What's killing them and when will it kill us?
Red Button syndrome?

We are very lucky to have got this far. Bt in such discussions I think "when" is often forgotten about.
In incremental steps over hundreds/thousands/millions or whatever number of years it's likely not a "monumental task" at all. We went from rowing across oceans to stepping on the moon in a few hundred years. Stepping stones.
What about those planets that may have vanished as of a result of their civilisations messing about with large hadron colliders accidentally making black holes that consumed them, their planet, the neigbouring planets and their star?

Anything is possible.

Eric Mc

121,779 posts

264 months

Monday 23rd January 2017
quotequote all
BrerRabbit said:
Eric Mc said:
I don't think you truly appreciate how mind boggingly big space is - as noted by Douglas Adams.
I don't think you truly appreciate how mind boggingly long there has been to achieve it - as noted by Enrico Fermi.
My mind boggingly is bigger than yours.

jmorgan

36,010 posts

283 months

Monday 23rd January 2017
quotequote all
colin_p said:
What about those planets that may have vanished as of a result of their civilisations messing about with large hadron colliders accidentally making black holes that consumed them, their planet, the neigbouring planets and their star?

Anything is possible.
Rather what is possible as we know it. The "how gig is space" bit, underlining that appears to be physics that we can measure. I appreciate we don't know it all, however looking at the way planets are being discovered and catalogues, I think it is a matter of time before we get some definitive answers. Inside a few years I hope.

I also understand that to make a black hole, system killer size, you will need more mass than a planet can give?

jmorgan

36,010 posts

283 months

Monday 23rd January 2017
quotequote all
Speaking of black holes, how do you find them?

Watch the stars around it. (in this case of course)
https://phys.org/news/2016-06-star-black-hole.html

And a very fast star indeed next year.
https://www.eso.org/public/unitedkingdom/videos/es...

BrerRabbit

18 posts

86 months

Monday 23rd January 2017
quotequote all
Eric Mc said:
BrerRabbit said:
Eric Mc said:
I don't think you truly appreciate how mind boggingly big space is - as noted by Douglas Adams.
I don't think you truly appreciate how mind boggingly long there has been to achieve it - as noted by Enrico Fermi.
My mind boggingly is bigger than yours.
If it were Fermi wouldn't have a paradox.

colin_p

4,503 posts

211 months

Monday 23rd January 2017
quotequote all
jmorgan said:
colin_p said:
What about those planets that may have vanished as of a result of their civilisations messing about with large hadron colliders accidentally making black holes that consumed them, their planet, the neigbouring planets and their star?

Anything is possible.
Rather what is possible as we know it. The "how gig is space" bit, underlining that appears to be physics that we can measure. I appreciate we don't know it all, however looking at the way planets are being discovered and catalogues, I think it is a matter of time before we get some definitive answers. Inside a few years I hope.

I also understand that to make a black hole, system killer size, you will need more mass than a planet can give?
Maybe they did slightly differently and accidentally hit a sweet for black hole formation. All speculation though.

As for definitive answers, it could cause chaos and in a good way. Nothing would focus everyones minds more than if alien spacecraft simulateously landed in St Peters Square and close to the black cube in mecca, the aliens got out and told everyone to stop being so silly.

Sadly though, it seems that no matter how advanced anyone gets, they simply will not be able to overcome the vast distances involved in space travel. What boggles my simple mind is even travalling as fast as it is possible to go, as we understand it and that being the speed of light, it would still take three years to get to the nearest star.

But my limited understanding is that travelling at near to light speed is impossible let alone exceeding it which would have to be achieved to be of any use. And assuming it was somehow possible, despite the emptyness of space it would only take one spec of stationary dust to be in the path of such a craft would end badly.

If mankind somehow survives and makes a good show of things, our descentants will get increasingly frustrated about being stuck on this little rock and being able to do a thing about it except maybe ever more daring hadron collider type black hole making experiments, imagine what the experiments would be like in say 500 or 1,000 years time.


BrerRabbit

18 posts

86 months

Monday 23rd January 2017
quotequote all
colin_p said:
Sadly though, it seems that no matter how advanced anyone gets, they simply will not be able to overcome the vast distances involved in space travel. What boggles my simple mind is even travalling as fast as it is possible to go, as we understand it and that being the speed of light, it would still take three years to get to the nearest star.
You can overcome vast distances it just takes time, resources and planning/forethought - hence the stepping stone analogy. Colonizing the Milky Way is doable even using fossil fuels which is why there is a paradox.

The 'time' taken to traverse the milky way being an insurmountable obstacle also displays a very anthropomorphic view and almost certainly wouldn't apply to Alien civilisations. 3 years would be nothing to a species that has an average life span of say 300 years.

All that aside, why no replicating probes? That in itself cancels out most of the arguments based upon time constraints.

jmorgan

36,010 posts

283 months

Monday 23rd January 2017
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Assuming that aliens are of the same mind set as us. Maybe the anti "sending drones into space" faction are in charge?

jmorgan

36,010 posts

283 months

Monday 23rd January 2017
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Yeah, tried to watch that

  1. cringe cringe cringe

Beati Dogu

8,862 posts

138 months

Monday 23rd January 2017
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NASA have been streaming the ISS' journey over our planet since November last year.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ddFvjfvPnqk


Or with data:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qzMQza8xZCc

hidetheelephants

23,758 posts

192 months

Tuesday 24th January 2017
quotequote all
ash73 said:
jmorgan said:
Yeah, tried to watch that

  1. cringe cringe cringe
I enjoyed it, quite bizarre at first but the Brian Cox / Noel Fielding combo worked well and Hannah Waddingham was magnificent in her star outfit. I had no idea she was the "shame" nun in GoT! Never seen anything quite like it.

Wish I'd seen it at Christmas it was very pantomime.
hehe

It was easier to appreciate when alcoholically compromised.

scorp

8,783 posts

228 months

Tuesday 24th January 2017
quotequote all
Caruso said:
Time and Distance. One scenario is that even with much more advanced technology other intelligent life hasn't been able to find a way of travelling faster than light.
Maybe we are the most advanced life form that currently exists.