Interesting question

[Weelittlelasey]

Have you ever wondered how big the universe was? Assume we are traveling at the speed of light (186,000 miles/sec) from the sun to the end of our solar system. At the SOL and 5 hrs 31m later we have traveled 3.5 billion miles to the end of our solar system. Now we travel in the direction perpendicular to our galaxy. Behind us the planets and sun quickly vanished. The emptyness of space has broken only by the light of stars so distant they don't yet appear to move. Finally on April 5th of the 5th year traveling at the speed of light we reach Alpha Centauri A, the neareast star to our solar system. We have now traveled over 25 trillion miles. 100 lt years from the sun gas and nabulas material from the arms of the milky way fill our view. At 1000 lt years the galaxys arms and disks become more defined. But it is not until we have traveled at the speed of light for 100,000 light years do we recongnize the entire Milky Way Galaxy. From this point forward every point of light you see is not a star but an entire galaxy. If you add 22 zeros behind 10 and whatever figure it is, that is how many stars are in each galaxy. 5 million years after traveling at the speed of light the Milkyway seems part of the 30 galaxies cluster known as a local group. 50 million light years out we enocunter the Large Burger cluster containing more than 2000 galaxies. And so it goes as our journey takes us deeper into the cosmos. Finally after 10 billion years we stop to look at a theoritcal view of the universe. Now think that we are just this one star out of 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 10x22 in one galaxy out of billions.

Are we alone?

[JohnnyZ]

It is statistically impossible for us to be alone.

[Weelittlelasey]

I agree. The question was How Big is the Universe btw. Just in case you thought Are we alone was.

[GraziLovesMary]

Yes. That very question has a permanant spot somewhere near the forefront of my fractality. i.e. I am expending at least a percentage of brainpower on contemplating and understanding the implications of the size of our universe 100% of my waking hours. Which outnumber my sleeping hours around 6:1 on most nights.

[notransfer]

the way I think of it is there is no possible way, no matter how far and fast traveled to get a panoramic view of the universe...

if one did what you describe, each view would be unique without a doubt, but you'd be surrounded by just as many stars and other galaxies no matter how far and where you traveled to.

[notransfer]

the way I think of it is there is no possible way, no matter how far and fast traveled to get a panoramic view of the universe...

if one did what you describe, each view would be unique without a doubt, but you'd be surrounded by just as many stars and other galaxies no matter how far and where you traveled to.

what about other universes ...who's to say or possibly know exactly how spaced out each is if there are others and how much void lies between them.

[Weelittlelasey]

Who knows. Maybe with every universe theres a seperate creator. You could keep asking yourself questions all day.

[ghosty]

Actually using certain observation techniques scientists have recently been able to come pretty close to calculating to a pretty good degree of accuracy just how big the universe is an how old... I have a couple of really great episode of a series about this question and more from an excellent series that was on the Discovery Channel called The Universe. You can find them on iTunes, it's about $3 per episode but these two are very worth it.

The two episodes in particular im thinking of are "Unexplained Mysteries" (that they actually do go into some logical explination of some of them.. a couple of them being how big and how old the universe is) and "Cosmic Apocalypse" (this also andresses slightly how big the universe is and how it well end.. truly great episodes I have watched each of them a few times). There is also an episode called "The Biggest Things in Space" which I have not watched but I imagine puts things into perspective quite well and may attempt to answer the big question, and is probably just as interesting as the previous two.

I just now remembered the "Dark Matter" episode also adresses this by explaing measurements made in teh actual size and expansion rates by measuring dark matter and the space between astral bodies. Really cool stuff.

I highly reccomend these shows well worth the money if you have a few bucks to spare. They have some quite renowned and respected professors and reseachers adding to the discussions.

[mattisnotonfire]

I recently watched a program on UK tv on BBC1. It was called 'Do You Know What Time It Is?'

It was based on the theories that you described but mainly focusing on the fact that time is just something that man has made to refer things to. The earth actually rotates on it's axis slower on some days that it does others but has just been averaged out at 24 hours.

Nobody knows how old the earth really is nor what the actual 'time' or age is.

Sorry, this has little to do with what you were discussing, I just find space and time theories facinating. I read 'A Brief History Of Time' when I was just 11 years old.

We all want answers to these facinating questions but unfortunately - they won't be answered in any of our lifetimes.

:stoned:

[ghosty]

I recently watched a program on UK tv on BBC1. It was called 'Do You Know What Time It Is?'

It was based on the theories that you described but mainly focusing on the fact that time is just something that man has made to refer things to. The earth actually rotates on it's axis slower on some days that it does others but has just been averaged out at 24 hours.

Nobody knows how old the earth really is nor what the actual 'time' or age is.

Sorry, this has little to do with what you were discussing, I just find space and time theories facinating. I read 'A Brief History Of Time' when I was just 11 years old.

We all want answers to these facinating questions but unfortunately - they won't be answered in any of our lifetimes.

:stoned:

Well I'll be damned.. I fuckin knew it!!! Somedays are definately longer!:D

[mattisnotonfire]

Well I'll be damned.. I fuckin knew it!!! Somedays are definately longer!:D

Lol. :D

Yeah, they always seem to be the days when I am working!

By the way, love your music Ghosty :thumbsup: If you're into electro, I have a mix on my myspace. MySpace.com - Riot:Mode - UK - Electro / Electronica / Dub - www.myspace.com/riotmodeuk (http://www.myspace.com/riotmodeuk)

Sorry for hi-jacking the thread! Back to the subject of space and time! :stoned:

[40oz]

Pondering the size of the universe is a pretty mystifying thought. It puts our existance into a different perspective.

Considering the size of the universe, I think it is definatley possible for there to be other life forms somewhere out there. Pondering existance of any life in the universe at all however, is just as mystifying as thinking about the size of the universe. Lets skip all the controversial ideas of creation and move right to things we can feel an accept as facts.

For humans to be comfortable, the temperature generally needs to be between 18 and 28 degrees C. A few degrees below that and it begins to get too cold and above too hot. Water freezes at 0 degree C and it boils at 100 degree C. Now think about this, life on our planet is viable at a temperature window that spans less than 100 degrees C. This is a mere blip on the scale when you consider the temperature of the rest of the universe. The moon alone changes between -233 C at night, to 123 C during the day. The very fact that life would be non existant if the temperature of earth was a miniscule fraction of a difference hotter or colder on the grand scale of things shows just how much of a miracle life is in the first place.

Considering this, I liken the odds of life on another planet to the odds of a person winning the PA and NJ lottery on the same day. First we get lucky with the necessary chemicals required for life on earth, then we get lucky again with the perfect temperature. The odds that life exists somewhere else in the universe are astronomically low. Some people may see "luck" as "intelligent design" so in that case I guess the question would be what are the odds that our intelligent creator decided to do his little experiment somewhere else. My guess is as good as yours on that one.

[Blazed Deafy]

i believe we are alone in the entire universe i know its so vast beyond conceived minds and all that shit yet i still believe we are alone. Whoever intelligent designer is it is truly genius yet so simple. I wonder if there is infinite tiniest particles beyond the higgs boson just as the infinity space of universe. Anyone wanna discuss about black hole and whats down there i mean its amazing that it has ability to suck the light into it considering its the speed. im sure the time does not exist down in the black hole. anyone wants to mention that we aint alone. you are wasting your time. :thumbsup:

[Weelittlelasey]

Actually using certain observation techniques scientists have recently been able to come pretty close to calculating to a pretty good degree of accuracy just how big the universe is an how old... I have a couple of really great episode of a series about this question and more from an excellent series that was on the Discovery Channel called The Universe. You can find them on iTunes, it's about $3 per episode but these two are very worth it.

The two episodes in particular im thinking of are "Unexplained Mysteries" (that they actually do go into some logical explination of some of them.. a couple of them being how big and how old the universe is) and "Cosmic Apocalypse" (this also andresses slightly how big the universe is and how it well end.. truly great episodes I have watched each of them a few times). There is also an episode called "The Biggest Things in Space" which I have not watched but I imagine puts things into perspective quite well and may attempt to answer the big question, and is probably just as interesting as the previous two.

I just now remembered the "Dark Matter" episode also adresses this by explaing measurements made in teh actual size and expansion rates by measuring dark matter and the space between astral bodies. Really cool stuff.

I highly reccomend these shows well worth the money if you have a few bucks to spare. They have some quite renowned and respected professors and reseachers adding to the discussions.

The biggest star or single object of mass is a Red Super Giant star. And it would take millions of earths to fill one of them.

[Weelittlelasey]

I recently watched a program on UK tv on BBC1. It was called 'Do You Know What Time It Is?'

It was based on the theories that you described but mainly focusing on the fact that time is just something that man has made to refer things to. The earth actually rotates on it's axis slower on some days that it does others but has just been averaged out at 24 hours.

Nobody knows how old the earth really is nor what the actual 'time' or age is.

Sorry, this has little to do with what you were discussing, I just find space and time theories facinating. I read 'A Brief History Of Time' when I was just 11 years old.

We all want answers to these facinating questions but unfortunately - they won't be answered in any of our lifetimes.

:stoned:

Lol thats pretty impressive if you started reading Stephen Hawking at 11.

[Weelittlelasey]

Pondering the size of the universe is a pretty mystifying thought. It puts our existance into a different perspective.

Considering the size of the universe, I think it is definatley possible for there to be other life forms somewhere out there. Pondering existance of any life in the universe at all however, is just as mystifying as thinking about the size of the universe. Lets skip all the controversial ideas of creation and move right to things we can feel an accept as facts.

For humans to be comfortable, the temperature generally needs to be between 18 and 28 degrees C. A few degrees below that and it begins to get too cold and above too hot. Water freezes at 0 degree C and it boils at 100 degree C. Now think about this, life on our planet is viable at a temperature window that spans less than 100 degrees C. This is a mere blip on the scale when you consider the temperature of the rest of the universe. The moon alone changes between -233 C at night, to 123 C during the day. The very fact that life would be non existant if the temperature of earth was a miniscule fraction of a difference hotter or colder on the grand scale of things shows just how much of a miracle life is in the first place.

Considering this, I liken the odds of life on another planet to the odds of a person winning the PA and NJ lottery on the same day. First we get lucky with the necessary chemicals required for life on earth, then we get lucky again with the perfect temperature. The odds that life exists somewhere else in the universe are astronomically low. Some people may see "luck" as "intelligent design" so in that case I guess the question would be what are the odds that our intelligent creator decided to do his little experiment somewhere else. My guess is as good as yours on that one.

I have to disagree with you on the odds being astronomically low. Think about it for a second. With 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 planets in each galaxy. First how many others earths do you think are in our galaxy? Second how about the other billions of them? It's statistically impossible for life not to exist somewhere else.

O and by Earth I mean a planet that can sustain life.

[JaySin]

I don't see how we could be alone. The universe is so large that there has to be planets very similar to ours. Not only that, but with it's extremely large size, who's to say that our environment is the only one capable of sustaining life? Just because it works for us, doesn't mean it's the only way.

Thinking about the size of the universe and what else is out there is something that I think about very often. I'm excited to experience the rest of my life just to see what else will happen on earth and what we will discover about the universe. I'm sure there will be a lot of things we could never have imagined were possible.

[Weelittlelasey]

i believe we are alone in the entire universe i know its so vast beyond conceived minds and all that shit yet i still believe we are alone. Whoever intelligent designer is it is truly genius yet so simple. I wonder if there is infinite tiniest particles beyond the higgs boson just as the infinity space of universe. Anyone wanna discuss about black hole and whats down there i mean its amazing that it has ability to suck the light into it considering its the speed. im sure the time does not exist down in the black hole. anyone wants to mention that we aint alone. you are wasting your time. :thumbsup:

You do realize that black holes are extremely extremely small and completely invisible to humans right? And that there aren't any close enough to us to make a difference. Scientists suspect that a black hole weighing 3 billion suns is lying at the center of galaxy M87.

[JohnnyZ]

Considering this, I liken the odds of life on another planet to the odds of a person winning the PA and NJ lottery on the same day. First we get lucky with the necessary chemicals required for life on earth, then we get lucky again with the perfect temperature. The odds that life exists somewhere else in the universe are astronomically low. Some people may see "luck" as "intelligent design" so in that case I guess the question would be what are the odds that our intelligent creator decided to do his little experiment somewhere else. My guess is as good as yours on that one.

Consider this. The probability of life existing somewhere else in the cosmos is next to zero. However, the sample space that we are taking the information from is infinite. This means that although the probability is impossibly small, it still exists because of the infinite nature of the space itself. Now, if a probability exists, that means there must be an equation to solve it.

Put simply, the universe is too big for life NOT to exist.

[zihowie]

Pondering which systems and planets can sustain life rather than questioning is there life out there there has to be! is more productive and progressive.
Water is deep-frozen in Mars and life supposedly was prevalent there, so theres 2 outta 8 just in our own tiny solar system.

[Blazed Deafy]

i didnt know that the black hole is invisible to human's eye. i was expecting black hole to be massive yet you say its tiny? are you referring to one type of blackholes? did you know that theres opposite of blackholes? talkin about balance...schiesse

[JohnnyZ]

Listen and learn.

A black hole is a mass which will eventually approach infinity. As it gains mass, it procures mass; that is to say that a larger a black hole becomes, the larger it will become. Very redundant. However, redundancy is the main principle of black holes. They contain so much mass in such a small area that even light itself cannot escape the gravitational pull of the black hole.

That is why we cannot see them.

[Dutch Pimp]

anything that can eat stars...is a bad mf'er.....:smokin:

[cjack77]

Alright listen and learn! There is a supermassive black hole at the center of our galaxy and scientists suspect that there is actually one at the center of every galaxy especially of the spiral type.

Unprecedented 16-year-long Study Tracks Stars Orbiting Milky Way Black Hole (http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/12/081209221707.htm)

You can kind of imagine this as the spine that holds our galaxy together with its massive gravity. Now black holes actually are absolutely gigantic in terms of mass however relatively small in terms of size due to that mass. Its mass is so great that its gravity actually does not allow light to leave its surface. This point is called the "event horizon". This would be the reason that you can't "see" a black hole because no light is escaping however you can can get a general idea of its properties from the way other masses act around it. However black holes do actually lose mass through a type of radiation I believe called Hawking radiation predicted by physicist Stephen Hawking. This is about the extent of my knowledge of black holes but now I move on to life.

Firstly, I think that for life to exist there must be water. Water has so many important characteristics I don't see how its possible without it, in fact I'm fairly certain there are no forms of life on earth that survive without it. So if we are to find planets with life on them that must be a first check we do. In terms of probability. We've only been able to find extra-solar planets for the past few years and already have founds hundreds. Not to mention the fact that they are all within around 10,000 light years from us (still well within our own galaxy.)

The certainty of life beyond our own will come when we have actually found how life came to be here on earth. There is an experiment, I forget the name, where they put the initial elements from earth in a beaker then shocked it with electricity and actually got some amino acids which are the basic building blocks of life. This is easily attainable in other areas of the universe but it must be proven that life can actually come from this. I think that once that is done there will be no refuting that there truly is almost certainly life outside of earth.

Thanks for reading! I realize this was really fucking long but hey, what can I say, I love science lol :thumbsup:

[Weelittlelasey]

i didnt know that the black hole is invisible to human's eye. i was expecting black hole to be massive yet you say its tiny? are you referring to one type of blackholes? did you know that theres opposite of blackholes? talkin about balance...schiesse

Black holes are invisible because they absorb light instead of reflecting it. Therefore rendering them invisible to us. And yes most black holes are only an inch or two in diameter.

[Weelittlelasey]

Alright listen and learn! There is a supermassive black hole at the center of our galaxy and scientists suspect that there is actually one at the center of every galaxy especially of the spiral type.

Unprecedented 16-year-long Study Tracks Stars Orbiting Milky Way Black Hole (http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/12/081209221707.htm)

You can kind of imagine this as the spine that holds our galaxy together with its massive gravity. Now black holes actually are absolutely gigantic in terms of mass however relatively small in terms of size due to that mass. Its mass is so great that its gravity actually does not allow light to leave its surface. This point is called the "event horizon". This would be the reason that you can't "see" a black hole because no light is escaping however you can can get a general idea of its properties from the way other masses act around it. However black holes do actually lose mass through a type of radiation I believe called Hawking radiation predicted by physicist Stephen Hawking. This is about the extent of my knowledge of black holes but now I move on to life.

Firstly, I think that for life to exist there must be water. Water has so many important characteristics I don't see how its possible without it, in fact I'm fairly certain there are no forms of life on earth that survive without it. So if we are to find planets with life on them that must be a first check we do. In terms of probability. We've only been able to find extra-solar planets for the past few years and already have founds hundreds. Not to mention the fact that they are all within around 10,000 light years from us (still well within our own galaxy.)

The certainty of life beyond our own will come when we have actually found how life came to be here on earth. There is an experiment, I forget the name, where they put the initial elements from earth in a beaker then shocked it with electricity and actually got some amino acids which are the basic building blocks of life. This is easily attainable in other areas of the universe but it must be proven that life can actually come from this. I think that once that is done there will be no refuting that there truly is almost certainly life outside of earth.

Thanks for reading! I realize this was really fucking long but hey, what can I say, I love science lol :thumbsup:

However black holes do actually lose mass through a type of radiation I believe called Hawking radiation predicted by physicist Stephen Hawking.


Hawking radiation is the radiation that is put off by Black Holes. It's called Hawking radiation because Stephen Hawking was the one to discover that Black Holes put off their own heat.

And In general relativity , an event horizon is a boundary in spacetime, an area surrounding a black hole, inside which events cannot affect an outside observer. Light emitted from inside the horizon can never reach the observer, and anything that passes through the horizon from the observer's side disappears.

[40oz]

Consider this. The probability of life existing somewhere else in the cosmos is next to zero. However, the sample space that we are taking the information from is infinite. This means that although the probability is impossibly small, it still exists because of the infinite nature of the space itself.

Ok, that makes sense. The only negative aspect to this idea though is that it can be stretched to prove the existance of anything and everything.

I see it like this, if the universe is really infinite, like is commonly accepted then everything that you can imagine is true because you are bound to eventually come across that extremely rare case with infinite trials. Lets say the odds of a pig born with wings is 1/100000000000000000000000. If you have infinite trials you will eventually find that pig born with wings. This is the same for any other probability. What is the probability you will win the lottery on Wednesday if you have infinity lottery tickets? I would say you have a 100% chance of winning.

If you are willing to accept that aliens exist because there are infinite possibilities for them to exist, you are basically saying nothing more than "anything is possible". In a sense that is what everyone who replied to this thread is saying in one way or another, including me, but I guess I choose to camp with the alien skeptics instead of alien enthusiasts.

My point is basically that our minds cannot fathom exactly what infinity is, and our mathematics will reflect that. I admit that there is a chance for life to exist out there, but I still think it is astronomically low.

[JohnnyZ]

My point is basically that our minds cannot fathom exactly what infinity is, and our mathematics will reflect that.

You and I may not be able to fathom infinity, but there is a probability that someone will be born who can :p

[Weelittlelasey]

You and I may not be able to fathom infinity, but there is a probability that someone will be born who can :p

:):):)