Aliens

[Chase Mueller]

Today is boring. Long job times on the laser, coffee making my mind race, and it got me thinking, there's a decent number of users here, wonder what y'all think about space travel? Do you think we are alone? If we are/aren't, what makes you feel that way? Not going to try to change anyone's mind here, just curious. Sprirted discussions can be fun I think!

[daryl moses]

It's a big Universe, it wouldn't surprise me if there are other life forms somewhere out there.

[Chase Mueller]

Especially with it being ever-expanding, who knows what mysteries lie in the unknown. I'm counting on you Mr. Musk, I wanna visit Mars! lol

[Bob Bouis]

It's a big universe for sure, but it's also very old. If there were aliens anywhere near us, we'd be able to see them because they'd be everywhere even if they only had a modest head start.

Imagine what we could do in a million years. The universe is 13 billion years old. That's 13,000 million-year periods.

[Chase Mueller]

It's a big universe for sure, but it's also very old. If there were aliens anywhere near us, we'd be able to see them because they'd be everywhere even if they only had a modest head start.

Imagine what we could do in a million years. The universe is 13 billion years old. That's 13,000 million-year periods.

Do you mind expanding on that? You have to think about what modest means in terms of technological advancement, I fully support the idea that mankind is not as technologically advanced as we should be, about 100 years behind, in fact.
I don't think it would be so easy to observe them flying around in space. We don't have the kind of capability to do that, assuming they do, why wouldn't one also assume they have a way of hiding it?

[Bob Bouis]

Do you mind expanding on that? You have to think about what modest means in terms of technological advancement, I fully support the idea that mankind is not as technologically advanced as we should be, about 100 years behind, in fact.
I don't think it would be so easy to observe them flying around in space. We don't have the kind of capability to do that, assuming they do, why wouldn't one also assume they have a way of hiding it?

Modest in geologic timescales. Like a 1% headstart would be 130 million years. 0.1% headstart would be 13 million years. The odds that aliens would exist and not have already occupied the whole galaxy already are very slight.

You'd be able to see advanced aliens because the biggest source of energy comes from stars and contraptions that collected it in a big enough scale would eventually (and in a short time relative to the age of the universe) alter the appearance of the star enough for us to detect it.

[Marshall Harrison]

If there is alien life out there then it seems to be intelligent enough to stay clear of us. We would definitely corrupt it.

But man's minds are so limiting that we can't image all the possibilities of what intelligent alien civilizations could look like. If we do encounter it there is a good chance that it won't look humanoid or like anything we know.

I'm more curious about what it would do for our religious beliefs? Did Jesus have to die for sins on their planet too? Did they have the equivalent of Muhammad or Buddha? What form of government did they develop?

[Chase Mueller]

Modest in geologic timescales. Like a 1% headstart would be 130 million years. 0.1% headstart would be 13 million years. The odds that aliens would exist and not have already occupied the whole galaxy already are very slight.

You'd be able to see advanced aliens because the biggest source of energy comes from stars and contraptions that collected it in a big enough scale would eventually (and in a short time relative to the age of the universe) alter the appearance of the star enough for us to detect it.

So do you believe anyone has witnessed alien spacecraft? Speaking purely from an observational standpoint, there have been some very credible people who claim to have witnessed that, including many astronauts.

[Mark Bolton]

I just watched the movie Arival. When I was younger, and even still a bit now, I wanted to believe in all the Area 51, Roswell, type theories. That technological advance for us was some how affected. Now at a mere 51 (which seems to feel like 151 at times) Im not so sure I buy into it but it makes for good books and films.

I have been an astronomy junkie for 30 years. Spent countless hours in an observatory I built imaging galaxies and nebula, planets, etc.. The thing that always seems to ring true to me is that most of us, even some of the smartest of us average individuals, has any real comprehension of time. 4.567 billion years for Earth. 13 billion years doesnt sound like "that much" more. There could be billions of other planets out there just like us, at similar levels of advancement. Maybe a couple thousand years older, couple thousand years younger, and the only thing we may ever get to experience of their life is its ultimate end when we see a supernova in the sky that occurred 6 billion years ago.

Sitting in that observatory it became a real brain bender to think that the light that is landing on my CCD's sensor left that objects center 29.35 MILLION light years ago... is just brain twisting.

Personally I think the notion of super advanced alien life knowing were here and just taking a back seat and watching speaks to a hope, believe, need, to think that someone else has their hands on the wheel. Ties into faith.

When you look at how long it has taken us to get something of our making to the outer reaches of our solar system, and that traveling at its current velocity, we may likely be extinct far before it ever even begins to approach any other "object"... sheesh. Mega brain twister.

[Chase Mueller]

Ok, first of all, please come help me build an observatory. That sounds effing awesome!
Also I have not seen arrival. Heard it was interesting though. Isn't it a prequel to something?

I don't buy all the area 51 conspiracies, but I definitely think they are hiding something. Look up the Unexplainable on Netflix. I think that's what it's called, really interesting documentary. Some of it's a bit cooky, but entertaining for sure.

[Mark Bolton]

Ok, first of all, please come help me build an observatory.

Building an observatory is nothing. Thats the easy part. Having a source of income (which I do not) to populate it with the never ending slippery slope of gee gaws and bigger, more advanced, etc.... now thats the hard part. My observatory, while nice, and very enjoyable, probably housed $10K worth of total investment in the building and equipment. The amazing amateur ground based images you see daily are often made with equipment purchased by doctors, lawyers, and others who have invested between a quater and a half a million dollars in their "hobby" lol.

Start attending star parties. Even if you have to travel a ways and camp out. You'll get to look through monsters scopes. But once the bug bites you. Hold onto your wallet.

[Chase Mueller]

Building an observatory is nothing. Thats the easy part. Having a source of income (which I do not) to populate it with the never ending slippery slope of gee gaws and bigger, more advanced, etc.... now thats the hard part. My observatory, while nice, and very enjoyable, probably housed $10K worth of total investment in the building and equipment. The amazing amateur ground based images you see daily are often made with equipment purchased by doctors, lawyers, and others who have invested between a quater and a half a million dollars in their "hobby" lol.

Start attending star parties. Even if you have to travel a ways and camp out. You'll get to look through monsters scopes. But once the bug bites you. Hold onto your wallet.

Man, why you gotta peak my interests like that? All I have is an outdated cheap telescope.

[John K Jordan]

I have been an astronomy junkie for 30 years. Spent countless hours in an observatory I built imaging galaxies and nebula, planets, etc.. The thing that always seems to ring true to me is that most of us, even some of the smartest of us average individuals, has any real comprehension of time. ...

Sitting in that observatory it became a real brain bender to think that the light that is landing on my CCD's sensor left that objects center 29.35 MILLION light years ago... is just brain twisting.

Even looking at our "sister" the Andromeda galaxy with binoculars it's amazing that the photons entering my eyes started out 2.5 million years ago.

I never built an observatory but I do get out the telescopes for small and large kids. Favorite targets for kids are Saturn and the moon.

This is last August at the solar eclipse at John Lucas's place here in TN. I used an 8" solar filter and also projected the image from a small scope inside a cardboard box.

eclipse_IMG_6607.jpg eclipse_IMG_6651.jpg eclipse_IMG_6662.jpg eclipse_IMG_6613.jpg eclipse-total_Charlie_es.jpg

BTW, I aimed some 5x night vision binoculars at the sky once and was surprised at how well they amplified the starlight. We took a photo of the Andromeda galaxy with a iPhone by holding it up to the eyepiece of the binocs.

JKJ

[Marshall Harrison]

Modest in geologic timescales. Like a 1% headstart would be 130 million years. 0.1% headstart would be 13 million years. The odds that aliens would exist and not have already occupied the whole galaxy already are very slight

The problem lies in that you have no way to support that. Your assumption is that aliens would want to occupy the whole galixy. but we have no way of knowing that.

Its also possible that hey have very long life spans but no faster than light modes of transportation. Could take them eons to expand.

and it's just as possible that they did inhabit most of the galaxy before their civilization became extinct. they could even have risen to the stars and fallen back multiple times.

Note that we are on a small spiral arm of our galaxy in an out of the way place. most col Nizam ion could have happened nearer to the core and hasn't progressed out our way yet.


We have no point of reference to do anything more that speculate.

[Bob Bouis]

The problem lies in that you have no way to support that. Your assumption is that aliens would want to occupy the whole galixy. but we have no way of knowing that.

The assumption isn't that aliens would want to occupy the entire galaxy, but that some of them would eventually do it. We're talking about millions of years here. What do you think are the odds that humans won't colonize some other solar system within the next million years? Let's just say it takes 1 million years for a star system with people in it to spread to another one -- that's 2 (earth + x) in 1 million years, 4 in 2 million years, 8 in 3 million years, 16 in 4 million years... see where I'm going with this? In 10 million years that's 1000 star systems, in 30 million years it a billion, more than there are in the galaxy.