the universe

[Notters]

Well I think you need to watch it again as light years are a measure of distance not time, so that makes no sense. That's like saying it would take 4 miles to get to Falmer.

 

[Lord Bracknell]

Well I think you need to watch it again as light years are a measure of distance not time, so that makes no sense. That's like saying it would take 4 miles to get to Falmer.

And you have to add the waiting distance it takes to get out of Bennetts Field.

 

[shaolinpunk]

In a universe so vast surely we can't be the only planet with life?

 

[k2bluesky]

What puts it in perspective, in human terms is the progress of Voyager 1, launched in 1977 and travelling at 30,000mph, at 18 billion miles away, it is just leaving the influence of our sun to enter inter-stellar space, it would take 75,000 years at that speed to even reach the closest star to us!!

 

[Seagull27]

Double post

 

[Seagull27]

So does anyone have any idea which chemical element will be our next signing

Rhodium surely?

 

[Tricky Dicky]

In a universe so vast surely we can't be the only planet with life?

Without wanting to encourage posts about little green men, I think most scientists believe these days that we're not alone, SETI are no longer deemed to be doing oddball research. Intelligent life is another matter, but basic lifeforms, I think most accept are out there.

 

[gripper stebson]

This thread is ridiculous.

Everyone knows that there are only 8 planets and what happens on them is organised by a giant man with a long silver beard who lives in a cloud. Get a grip people.

 

[skipper734]

This Hubble photo, as I understand it. Every pinprick of light is a Galaxy not a Star.

 

[Gullys Cats]

seriously watch the wonders of the universe you'll be well f***ed up in the head after it. Apparently there are more stars in the universe than grains of sand on the earth. f*** me Im boring/sad

No, not boring or sad at all, it's fascinating.

 

[somerset]

When you start to think about the size of the universe and where it start and finishes, whats the shape, whats out there,,,it starts to blow your mind!

There must be no end or beginning surely, there is unlikely to be a wall around it, or a precipice of some sort......but don't dwell on it too much, that way lies madness.

 

[Aadam]

What gets my head more than any of this is.... How did it all start? What was before nothing...

 

[MattBackHome]

Scale of Universe - Interactive Scale of the Universe Tool This will f*** with your head then

I love(d) doing this sort of stuff in Physics lessons.

That's incredible

 

[BrightonGuy]

There must be no end or beginning surely, there is unlikely to be a wall around it, or a precipice of some sort......but don't dwell on it too much, that way lies madness.

It's like when we believed that the earth was flat and had edges, its wasn't until we went around it that we realised it was round. Similar sort of thing here but we can't get to the "edge"

 

[TheJasperCo]

What gets my head more than any of this is.... How did it all start? What was before nothing...

Some scientists say that when the universe gets to its maximum size, it will collapse in on itself (sort of like a Big Crunch). When the universe gets to the size of a pinhead, it will expand again, in a "Big Bounce". So really, there never was such thing as nothing; before this universe, was another universe and so on ie. they come in cycles.

 

[Silk]

For those curious about all this, I recommend "The Anthropic Cosmological Principle " by Barrow and Tipler, John Barrow was once based at University of Sussex. There ARE a lot of baffling equations but you can ignore those and still get a lot out of this wonderful book.

 

[Bold Seagull]

Scale of Universe - Interactive Scale of the Universe Tool This will f*** with your head then

I love(d) doing this sort of stuff in Physics lessons.

That's brilliant!!

Reminds me of Charles and Ray Eames Power of Ten film...

 

[Davemania]

When you start to think about the size of the universe and where it start and finishes, whats the shape, whats out there,,,it starts to blow your mind!

One thing I can never get my head round is what is beyond the universe? Whats it sitting in? Are there other universes and where does it all end? All a bit too much to cope with

 

[Tricky Dicky]

Without getting too deep, as things stand the only planet we have discovered which has life is the earth and it is absolutely oozing with it at every corner of the globe no matter how extreme the environment.

With the universe being so vast it is easy to speculate that life is always going to be an inevitable symptom of a habitable world.

However we can't say that for sure because we don't understand what life is, where it came from, how it came into existence or what its purpose is (or if it has one).

So really, according to current knowledge, despite knowing that are more planets in the universe than grains of sand on earth, the earth could well be the only planet in the entire universe that has life.

Well, they certainly know that the building blocks for life (amino acids) are easily found outside of this planet, and that life started relatively quickly here. Proves nothing, but "suggests" it's not too difficult. We're not even certain yet that there's no life on Mars, and that's pretty damn close.

As for "purpose". There is none, of course (IMHO).

 

[Davemania]

In a universe so vast surely we can't be the only planet with life?

I think its much more ludicrous to suggest that we are the only planet with life on it