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| occrider |
http://www.cnn.com/2003/TECH/space/...rvey/index.html
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SYDNEY, Australia (CNN) -- Ever wanted to wish upon a star? Well, you have 70,000 million million million to choose from.
That's the total number of stars in the known universe, according to a study by Australian astronomers.
It's also about 10 times as many stars as grains of sand on all the world's beaches and deserts.
The figure -- 7 followed by 22 zeros or, more accurately, 70 sextillion -- was calculated by a team of stargazers based at the Australian National University.
Speaking at the General Assembly of the International Astronomical Union meeting in Sydney, Dr Simon Driver said the number was drawn up based on a survey of one strip of sky, rather than trying to count every individual star.
The team used two of the world's most powerful telescopes, one at the Anglo-Australian Observatory in northern New South Wales state and one in the Canary Islands, to carry out their survey.
Within the strip of sky some 10,000 galaxies were pinpointed and detailed measurements of their brightness taken to calculate how many stars they contained.
A whole lot of zeros
Astronomers say there are more stars than grains of sand in all of Earth's deserts and beaches.
That number was then multiplied by the number of similar sized strips needed to cover the entire sky, Driver said, and then multiplied again out to the edge of the visible universe.
He said there were likely many million more stars in the universe but the 70 sextillion figure was the number visible within range of modern telescopes.
The actual number of stars could be infinite he said.
The universe is so big light from the other side of the universe "hasn't reached us yet," The Age newspaper quoted him as saying.
Asked if he believed the huge scale of the universe meant there was intelligent life out there somewhere, he told the paper.
"Seventy thousand million million million is a big number ... it's inevitable."
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How can people expect there not to be life out there when we're an insignificant speck in the universe? Religious nuts who believe that we're God's chosen people that's who! |
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| Shakka |
| That's alotta stars!!:happy2: And I definitely believe that there is a lot of life outside of our solar system. How intelligent it may be is one question, but I believe there are undoubtably other beings out there. |
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| DrummeRaver86 |
That's ing awesome.
And I totally agree with you occrider...there's an entire universe, how can there not be an other life? It's ridiculous to think that we're the only beings in the universe. Who knows, perhaps there is another Earth somewhere, with people just lke us. |
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| occrider |
| quote: | Originally posted by DrummeRaver86
That's ing awesome.
And I totally agree with you occrider...there's an entire universe, how can there not be an other life? It's ridiculous to think that we're the only beings in the universe. Who knows, perhaps there is another Earth somewhere, with people just lke us. |
A bizarro Earth perhaps? Where Melech supports a Palestinian occupation of Israelis living in the west bank and gaza to control Israeli terrorism, Cyrus denounces Palestine and calls the 'PDF' murderers, and I'm ugly? :p |
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| drgoodvibe |
| without a doubt there is life out there, but I saw a show on Discovery, in which an astronomer said that its possible that most of the life, if we ever meet it will be in bacteria or non sentient form. His argument was that civilizations in reference to galactic time have relatively very short life spans, so we might once chance upon a long dead civilization but never be able to find a thriving one. Though simply put theres just sooo many stars out there with even more planets, you'd have to be extremely closed minded to not believe theres a possibly that theres life out there. |
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| DrummeRaver86 |
| quote: | Originally posted by occrider
A bizarro Earth perhaps? Where Melech supports a Palestinian occupation of Israelis living in the west bank and gaza to control Israeli terrorism, Cyrus denounces Palestine and calls the 'PDF' murderers, and I'm ugly? :p |
That would be funny...except you'd still be the same as on this Earth, ugly.:D |
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| occrider |
| quote: | Originally posted by DrummeRaver86
That would be funny...except you'd still be the same as on this Earth, ugly.:D |
/simultaneously smacks DrummeRaver86 on real Earth and Bizzaro Earth :thepirate |
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| DrummeRaver86 |
| quote: | Originally posted by occrider
/simultaneously smacks DrummeRaver86 on real Earth and Bizzaro Earth :thepirate |
muahahahahaha! here occrider, have a beer (the ultimate pacifier).
:D :D |
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| occrider |
| quote: | Originally posted by DrummeRaver86
muahahahahaha! here occrider, have a beer (the ultimate pacifier).
:D :D |
Damn you man, you've learned my ultimate weakness. Glug, glug, glug ... |
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| Galapidate |
| I can't wait till we discover other forms of life in the universe, that would be sweet! |
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| Palestinian |
Even though I wish there is intelligent life on other planets, it is possible that the huge number of galaxies, stars etc is an example of the infinite power of God. If you believe in God, then it doesn't necessarily mean that there is life on other planets because of the countless numbers.
Having aliens come to Earth is the only thing that may unite humans. It's the star trek theory and it makes sense. As sad as it is, aliens are the only thing that may save us from ourselves.
:nervous: |
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| Shakka |
| quote: | Originally posted by Palestinian
Even though I wish there is intelligent life on other planets, it is possible that the huge number of galaxies, stars etc is an example of the infinite power of God. If you believe in God, then it doesn't necessarily mean that there is life on other planets because of the countless numbers.
Having aliens come to Earth is the only thing that may unite humans. It's the star trek theory and it makes sense. As sad as it is, aliens are the only thing that may save us from ourselves.
:nervous: |
That's actually a good point, Palestinian. From a contrarian standpoint, if you do have a strong belief in God, why wouldn't a person believe so much in the uniqueness of the human mind/being to believe that Earth is like a diamond in the rough, needle in a haystack, etc.
Then again, I still have a strong scientific set of beliefs that tell me the haystack that is the universe is simply too damn large not to have a few dozen needles mixed in here and there, but the chances of finding more than 1 are pretty slim. I'm also challenged by the concept of infinity--telling me that there are an infinite number of variables, further telling me that somewhere, the variables must be right, and the stars lined up correctly for similar conditions to exist, or perhaps drastically different conditions where a completely different kind of being could thrive. Of course if I extrapolate further on infinity and infinite variables, that would tell me that there are theoretically an infinite number of other "Earths" out there...which is a bit hard to swallow. Infinity is cool to think about. |
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