Astronomers Catch Mysterious Radio Blast From the Distant Universe

[Shemp]

I confess to being markedly ignorant in the realm of astrophysics, but to a layman, I'm not seeing the big deal here and I'm certainly not seeing this as evidence of ET life.

What am I missing?

eh...likely not ETs but fascinating none the less.

 

[Shemp]

I confess to being markedly ignorant in the realm of astrophysics, but to a layman, I'm not seeing the big deal here and I'm certainly not seeing this as evidence of ET life.

What am I missing?

eh...likely not ETs but fascinating none the less.

 

[Cobalt 60]

I am 99.9999% certain there are other sentient beings in the universe. I am also 99.9999% certain that interstellar space travel within a human lifetime (or a dozen lifetimes) is impossible unless the physics of the universe are drastically different than what we currently understand. And any life form that can pull it off is not crashing in Roswell.

 

[Cobalt 60]

I am 99.9999% certain there are other sentient beings in the universe. I am also 99.9999% certain that interstellar space travel within a human lifetime (or a dozen lifetimes) is impossible unless the physics of the universe are drastically different than what we currently understand. And any life form that can pull it off is not crashing in Roswell.

 

[RexProcer]

If we wanted to travel through deep space to any real truly far off place, we would, instead of traveling on a flat plane through it, have to bring the space to us; fold spacetime as it were. I can talk for days about this stuff, but suffice it to say, that little warp drive you see in Star Trek isn't so science-fiction-y. It is, theoretically, possible, and the only currently viable theory given that yes, we cannot travel faster than the speed of light (I'm not 100% convinced of this, but I'm not Einstein, so my opinion means nothing).

 

[Laufen]

Please correct me if I'm wrong ( and I know you will) our little galaxy is 100 thousand light years across . If we could travel at the speed of light it would take us that 100 thousand years to get across to the other side. Deep space travel is far beyond any capabilities we have or will have, perhaps in the entire life span of our planet. We can't even withstand the environments of space long enough to travel to our neighboring planets let alone deep space.
There are more galaxies in the universe than there are grains of sand on every beach on earth. The logical conclusion is that there are probably millions of inhabited planets but we have to conclude that they are subject to the same physics as the rest of us. For all extents and purposes we are alone.

For all *intents* and purposes. Damn I hate to see that mangled.

 

[HERMET]

Right you are, I stand corrected. Like a good number of people on here, I can type faster than I can think.

 

[Bear44]

If the signal originates 5.5 billion light years away, it is almost a certainty that any civilization that sent it is long gone. Our planet had not even come into existence when it was transmitted.

As for travelling to other distant locations, if we could create a ship that approached the speed of light (an almost certain impossibility), relative ship time would be drastically different than what we experience on earth. A ship travelling a 99.9% the speed of light, causing relativistic affects, could circumnavigate the know universe in approximately 54 ship years. However, so much time would have passed on earth the ship would return to a dead star and no earth at all.

Travel through some type of sub space that would largely negate distance is a scientific possibility, but current estimations of the amount of energy needed to achieve it roughly equals that of a sun going super nova.

It is actually more likely that we will achieve interdimensional travel, rather than intergalactic travel. Interstellar travel may be a possibility some day, but the ships would probably need to be "generational" and would never effectively communicate with earth again.

BTW, this should not be in Area 51.

 

[HERMET]

Way to go Dr Who...and beware the space trolls.

 

[strider12]

If the signal originates 5.5 billion light years away, it is almost a certainty that any civilization that sent it is long gone. Our planet had not even come into existence when it was transmitted.

As for travelling to other distant locations, if we could create a ship that approached the speed of light (an almost certain impossibility), relative ship time would be drastically different than what we experience on earth. A ship travelling a 99.9% the speed of light, causing relativistic affects, could circumnavigate the know universe in approximately 54 ship years. However, so much time would have passed on earth the ship would return to a dead star and no earth at all.

Travel through some type of sub space that would largely negate distance is a scientific possibility, but current estimations of the amount of energy needed to achieve it roughly equals that of a sun going super nova.

It is actually more likely that we will achieve interdimensional travel, rather than intergalactic travel. Interstellar travel may be a possibility some day, but the ships would probably need to be "generational" and would never effectively communicate with earth again.

BTW, this should not be in Area 51.

Have you seen Interstellar yet? Opinions?