Astronomy & Space Exploration

17Larsson said:
Will we be able to learn more about this planet? Will it ever possible to look at it closer?
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It's 1,400 light years away (and possibly 1.5bn years older which is pretty amazing to imagine, could be the relics of a great civilisation rotting on it as we speak) so probably not in any great detail, but I think the Webb Space Telescope that's due to launch in a few years will be able to detect atmospheres on exoplanets, so we'd be able to look for water vapour, oxygen, levels of CO2 and such. It's worth remembering that Venus is an Earth-sized planet in the habitable zone (just), but it's about as inhospitable as you could imagine.

The main value of finds like this is the statistical one rather than the planet itself - we'll be able to estimate the frequency that a sun-like star will have an earth-like planet in its habitable zone, which will give us a good idea of the number of them that like are likely to be in our galaxy/near us.
 
Ubik said:
It's 1,400 light years away (and possibly 1.5bn years older which is pretty amazing to imagine, could be the relics of a great civilisation rotting on it as we speak) so probably not in any great detail, but I think the Webb Space Telescope that's due to launch in a few years will be able to detect atmospheres on exoplanets, so we'd be able to look for water vapour, oxygen, levels of CO2 and such. It's worth remembering that Venus is an Earth-sized planet in the habitable zone (just), but it's about as inhospitable as you could imagine.

The main value of finds like this is the statistical one rather than the planet itself - we'll be able to estimate the frequency that a sun-like star will have an earth-like planet in its habitable zone, which will give us a good idea of the number of them that like are likely to be in our galaxy/near us.
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This is the most frustrating branch of knowledge imaginable. All the most fascinating stuff is out there waiting to be discovered millennia after we're all dead. We're like some little mono-cellular spore on the early earth who has an inkling that one day his descendants will walk on the moon.
 
Aldo said:
Can we be sure we have already not been discovered, perhaps before or even during the existence of our race?
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Lol, that is a good point. Just sends your mind on a trip when you think about the endless possibilities in regards to the galaxy. The questions that can be posed when talking about the universe are amazing.
 
shabz said:
Lol, that is a good point. Just sends your mind on a trip when you think about the endless possibilities in regards to the galaxy. The questions that can be posed when talking about the universe are amazing.
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You should check out the Fermi paradox theories
 
VeevaVee said:
You should check out the Fermi paradox theories
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I find them a bit suspect tbh. For one, they presume other life should have developed ways to visit us and thus the fact that they haven't, places doubt on whether or not the Universe is full of life. That presumption is problematic for me in that we don't know if other life will be in any way like us, nor do we know whether it evolves or is trapped in some seemingly irrational static state. etc.
 
Raoul said:
I find them a bit suspect tbh. For one, they presume other life should have developed ways to visit us and thus the fact that they haven't, places doubt on whether or not the Universe is full of life. That presumption is problematic for me in that we don't know if other life will be in any way like us, nor do we know whether it evolves or is trapped in some seemingly irrational static state. etc.
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It doesn't presume that. Here's a good article on it.

waitbutwhy.com/2014/05/fermi-paradox.html
 
theyneverlearn said:
Cheers.

I'm just reading through it now, mind blowing are the words I'd use.
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That's just the 1st part. Once you're done, read part 2. If your mind's blown now, I'd be v v interested to hear how you describe what you feel on reading that. Let me know for sure :)
 
Varun said:
Don't let that stop you from reading the 2 articles, you'll regret it.
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How exactly? I wouldn't know what I missed.
I was joking by the way. I'm still reading (procrastinating).
 
If this fecker of an AI gets itself as intelligent as they say in the first part, wouldn't it be able to simulate a complete reality? In which case we're probably a simulation ourselves already.
 
Maagge said:
How exactly? I wouldn't know what I missed.
I was joking by the way. I'm still reading (procrastinating).
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That's true :lol:

Maagge said:
If this fecker of an AI gets itself as intelligent as they say in the first part, wouldn't it be able to simulate a complete reality? In which case we're probably a simulation ourselves already.
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If it was the case, wouldn't they be stopping us from creating something that could challenge them?
 
shabz said:
Do people think we will find life on another planet before another planet discovers Earth? Considering our solar system is probably one of the youngest in the galaxy, surely there would be other planets out there who have had a lot more time to develop and advance than ours.
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Finding life and contacting that life is 2 very diffrent things. There might be intelligent life looking at earth right now but with the distance between the planets makig any communications impossible. For example the planet mentioned in the post above yours is 1400 lightyears away which mean what we are seeing now actually happend 1400 years ago.
 
Raoul said:
Fantastic article. Just illustrates that the Paradox and our perception of life elsewhere is completely saturated with anthropic bias. Its littered with speculation based on an innately human presumption of a series of events that may or may not be taking place elsewhere.
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Absolutely. We focus too much on ourselves and what we can see/find and what we believe could life mean. Us searching for them and not getting signs of life is so insignificant when it comes to whether or not life exists.

Read the articles on AI on that site. Mind blowing stuff.
 
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Just to put some of these sizes into perspective :

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VY-Canis-Majoris.png


EarthVSun-April62011.001.png

The entire SpaceRip channel on Youtube is really fascinating. Loads of other awesome videos if you're into deep space. This one's probably my favorite of the lot :

 
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