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Vega Older Than Thought: Mature Enough To Nurture Life
sciencehabit writes about new estimates of Vega's age giving hope that any planets it might have are old enough to harbor life. From the article: "Shining just 25 light-years from Earth in the constellation Lyra, Vega is the fifth brightest star in the night sky. In 1983, astronomers discovered dust orbiting the star, suggesting it had a solar system, and Carl Sagan chose to make Vega the source of a SETI signal in his 1985 novel Contact. At the time, Vega was thought to be only about a couple hundred million years old, probably too young for any planets to have spawned life. Since then, however, estimates of Vega's age have increased to between 625 million and 850 million years old. So suitable planets have probably had sufficient time to develop primitive life."
With improvements in telescopes allowing detection of the rough atmospheric composition of exoplanets on the way, this could be pretty exciting.
... then its a great waste of space!
This sig is not paradoxical or ironic.
At less than a billion years old, it seems unlikely any planets there will have much in the way of life. I'm not really expecting that much excitement.
This Space Intentionally Left Blank
by at least billions and billions of years.
Very cool development! I'm really interested to see what else comes about in my lifetime. I was born in '74 and just think about the huge advances in space knowledge that have been made since then. Exciting stuff to come!
Sheesh! You can't just come out and say it like that! You need to carefully construct a fear campaign that they are harbouring WMDs/Terrorists. Then we can go in full force and as a bonus we get to rape the planet for any resources too!
In the entire history of the universe we have seen one example of life forming. It boggles the mind that from this one sample scientists think they know when, how, and where life can and can't form in the universe.
Now we have to worry about the Vegan Tyranny. Also the interstellar empire of the same name. Bloody vegans, always trying to take away our bacon!!!!
General Relativity: Space-time tells matter where to go; Matter tells space-time what shape to be.
I suggest a preemptive Vega strike to wipe out any aliens before they get us first!
Playing Vega Strike isn't going to wipe out any aliens, no matter how hard you try.
As a postscript, did anyone else glance at the submission and read the headline as "Vegas Older Than Thought: Mature Enough To Nurture Life." That'll be a relief to the people who live there, I thought.
Suzanne Vega has a daughter. (is there any other Vega?)
The Vegans should not pose a problem for us. Their strict adherence to a non-carnivorous lifestyle, shunning even protein rich foods like cheese and eggs, ensures that we would be able to beat them in a fair fight.
According to http://wiki.answers.com/Q/How_fast_are_modern_space_probes modern probes can travel roughly 39000 miles per hour, or 341640000 (39000*24*365) miles per year. 1 light year = 5.87849981 × 10^2 miles, so it would take about 17206 years (5.87849981 × 10^12 / 341640000) for a probe to get there, and another 25 years for it to send a light signal pattern back to us for us to process. Assuming once at the solar system the probe would be able to determine atmospheric compositions of some of the planets in the solar system, and possibly drop some rovers on a planet and send back some additional data. Might as well send a probe out and write down somewhere that we sent it out. Hopefully in 17k years we remember to look for an answer.
http://interserver.net/
SETI got a reply:
"glub glub glub, bwuurrrrp, glub glub."
Table-ized A.I.
Life timeline on earth (in millions of years ago): Earth formation - 4,600; First life (simple cells) - 3,600; Dinosaurs ~ 300; Humans ~ 2.5; If we use that for comparison, and best case scenario of Vega having something very similar to earth, it is highly unlikely that it can host even the most basic of life forms..
"Just" 25 light years away! Hey that's virtually next door. Let's go for the week-end. Sigh.
Seven puppies were harmed during the making of this post.
people are getting paid real money to sit around in their underwear guessing which stars have planets and life. While eating Cheetos and drinking Dr. Pepper. I think I just found my next career.
I, for one, would hate to find out that the Vogons were really Vegans. I hate poetry.
We always want their water!
You're forgetting to weight the options with the possible new information available. Also, we're still only talking "possible basic life", not Slowly And Surely Laying Their Plans Against Us.
Please consider this account deleted, I just can't be bothered with the spam anymore.
Articles like this drive me crazy. We have no idea how life starts in a solar system. We only have the most remote clue regarding how it arose here on earth. We have absolutely no idea if life exists on other planets in this solar system, there may even be intelligent life here, trapped under ice, or perhaps not caring to talk to us... To suggest any of the ridiculously scant data we have on even the nearest of our neighbor stars is any clue we can use to determine if life is possible there is idiotic. These sorts of articles are the sorts of things that future generations will dig up to laugh at how dumb we were way here in the stupid ages.
A Royale with cheese.
So do you suggest a Hadouken or Yoga Flame?
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If we grant the reasonable assumption that the laws of physics are the same across the galaxy, then we can combine our "ridiculously scant data" on exoplanets with the information and knowledge we already have about life on Earth and the conditions on Mars and other planets visited by space probes. This is the same as in any crime investigation. By itself, a blood stain would be meaningless. You have to compare it to an existing database of DNA samples and corroborate it with other evidence.
5. They are neither warlike, nor stupid. Their intelligence apparatus has already inserted itself, albeit only superficially within our own government. Upon finding that we would allow such plans as the destruction of their people (laughable as it is) to be put in the hands of someone picked for qualification through a process designed to refine sociopaths, they have determined our total extermination is the only safe course.
Incidentally this means we are not being recomended to the United Plantes Comittees to fight poverty in third world planets, or possibly being nominated for eminent domain to make room for a new hyperspace bypass
"I opened my eyes, and everything went dark again"
So when life is found there, those wheat germ sucking, soy loving vegans will have to give up their appellation and let it go back to the real Vegans -- the the freindly neighborhood aliens from Vega.
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So are we hopeful for a chance of a playdate with some frisky Vegans, is that it? I guess we'd better be hopeful for more than just that, then, like hope that they have an FTL drive?
I'm pretty sure you end up informing against the other prisoner out of paranoid self-interest, even though the obvious intelligent choice is to operate on the assumption that everyone benefits more when you don't.
In Babylon 5 it is Minbar.
"Wait. Something's happening. It's opening up! My God, it's full of apricots!"
Yes, I'll be worried only if I live in Japan, especially near the Tokyo Tower. Anyway to be extra safel let's help Duke Fleed to steal the Grendizer.
suggesting it had a solar system
It would make so much more sense, in case of Vega, to write "planetary system."
Upward mobility is a slippery slope - the higher you climb the more you show your ass.
There might have been long enough for some primitive life, but probably not long enough for oil or other fossil fuels.
Could be okay for mineral resources, I guess.
Beware of the vegans steep hipocrocy. Like most religions or ideologies, they get to the point where they believe if everyone follows my idea then there will be a better world. Once the idea that your idea is the greater good, bad things can happen.
If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
Hey, eminent domain means they have to pay us fair market value for Earth.
So do you suggest a Hadouken or Yoga Flame?
Definitely a Hadoken...
Blackmage made those things absolutely devastating, ask Lefein
The Vegans should not pose a problem for us. Their strict adherence to a non-carnivorous lifestyle, shunning even protein rich foods like cheese and eggs, ensures that we would be able to beat them in a fair fight.
Unless, of course, they have Vegan Super Powers
Oh, you didn't know?
In 1983, astronomers discovered dust orbiting [Vega], suggesting it had a solar system
Am I the only one who thought that quote a little off? Isn't "solar system" the one with the Sun (our star) and 8 specific planets (sorry Pluto, I've finally let you go off the list. I miss you though!).
It would have been better to say "suggesting it had a planetary system".
"The hallmark of humanity is the ability to move beyond sensory inputs" - Mary Helen Immordino-Yang
5. Why would someone want to talk to meat?
-
Vegans have been on planet Earth for decades.
Vegas is old enough to have much immature life.
...rape the planet for any resources too
As an advocate for humanity to carry Terran life to the rest of the solar system and interstellar seeding, I'll just note that, technically, that would not be rape, but foraging. :)
- disregarding any potential for intimate interspecies relationships, of course.
It's easier to be a result of the past, but more fun to be a cause of the future! http://www.spacefinancegroup.com/
United Plantes Comittees
I am informed by the Official UPC Representative to the Sol Neighborhood Association, that the United Planets Committees take a dim view of misrepresenting their identity. Your house will be zapped from space shortly. Fortunately, 'shortly' has a poorly defined time scale, so you probably have time to move - or perhaps grow old and die. Or else it already happened. These things are difficult to plan, what with dilation, the two-dimensional 'square root of time' thing (but of course Terrans haven't figured that out yet - oops!), etc.
It's easier to be a result of the past, but more fun to be a cause of the future! http://www.spacefinancegroup.com/
Does that include resettling in another location, with new infrastructure? I might go for that.
It's easier to be a result of the past, but more fun to be a cause of the future! http://www.spacefinancegroup.com/
I love that story. :D
It's easier to be a result of the past, but more fun to be a cause of the future! http://www.spacefinancegroup.com/
You wouldn't be saying that if you'd seen Scott Pilgrim vs. The World.
5. We develop the weapons, and attack only if they attack us.
MAD doesn't stop working just because the targets are far away.
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Now, we *knew* there was life in Vegas, though not necessarily the kind you want to associate with.
On the other hand, I though Vegans were from Vega, since they don't seem to be from this planet, and apparently think they're above, or better, than the rest of us mammals....
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