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The Universe Has 20 Times More Galaxies Than We Thought (gizmodo.com)
A new study by a team of international astronomers has produced some astounding results: they concluded that the universe contains at least two trillion galaxies -- as much as 20 times more than previously thought. The study adds that 90 percent of all galaxies are hidden from us. This hidden portion can't be seen even with our most powerful telescopes. Gizmodo adds: Consequently, this means we also have to update the number of stars in the observable universe, which now numbers around 700 sextillion (that's a 7 with 23 zeros behind it, or 700 thousand billion billion). And that's just within the observable universe. Because the cosmos emerged some 13.8 billion years ago, we're only able to observe objects up to a certain distance from Earth. Anything outside this "Hubble Bubble" is invisible to us because the light from these distant objects simply haven't had enough time to reach us. It's difficult -- if not impossible -- to know how many galaxies reside outside this cosmological blind spot.
The Universe Has 20 Times More Galaxies Than We Thought
20 times more than YOU thought, perhaps, but not me. I hadn't thought.
Does this change then the need for dark matter? or it doesn't matter? xD
So, how does this affect the Drake Equation? Even if we assume a very, very low percentage of extraterrestrial life and even a lower percentage of *intelligent* extraterrestrial life, we're still looking at "billions and billions" (sorry Carl) of potential intelligent species out there, we just can't seem to contact them though due to the vast distances involved.
Too bad really. Until we can come up with some way of cheating physics, we are stuck in this solar system for the foreseeable future.
If telephones are outlawed, then only outlaws will have telephones.
Does this imply that the universe is expanding faster than the speed of light? Wouldn't that be a contradiction of the speed of light being the fastest speed you can travel at? Can someone who read the article shed some light on this? :)
It's very probable. But since we also know that the Periodic Table of Elements is universal, as well as the fundamental forces, we also know things like warp drive are just not feasible...
So they are over there, and we are here. End of story.
Even if we could travel at the speed of light, we probably couldn't even catch/contact many of those near the edge of detection, yet still visible.
Due to accelerating expansion, they would be moving too fast to catch by the time we got close.
Thus, they are effectively shut off from us such that we perhaps should consider them just shadows of the past, fossils, rather than tangible things. If they launch ET or messages from ET, they better do it soon, or should have already done it, if they want us to see.
Note they are NOT traveling faster than the speed of light from our perspective. From our perspective they are slowing to a crawl, nearly frozen. Thus, no violation of the speed of light is happening (relatively speaking). That's why their "light" is shifted to the infrared spectrum: their "waves" are slowed down for us, wiggling real slow. From "Gods'" perspective perhaps we can say some are or will be rushing away from us faster than light, but us muggles don't get to see it.
Table-ized A.I.
So I had to click around awhile, but here's the actual paper:
http://www.spacetelescope.org/...
For some of us, it makes a huge difference if we're reading the actual paper, or trying to understand the watered-down version on a click-bait site.
The Drake Equation just deals with our galaxy, so it doesn't have any effect.
I believe it was limited as such because it would be "more feasible" to have a meaningful conversation with a species in this galaxy thanks to the distances involved.
The presence of dark matter is inferred from the behavior of individual galaxies. The gravitational binding energy of galaxies should be much higher than what we can attribute to baryonic matter alone. So even though there are more galaxies than we thought, they still require dark matter to account for this discrepancy.
Basically, if we assume that 20x the number of galaxies means 20x the amount of baryonic matter (which not necessarily true, but whatever), then there must be 20x the amount of dark matter as well. So the ratio of baryonic matter to dark matter would remain the same.
Only crack the nuts that crack. You don't put the ones that don't crack in the sack.
It's an anonymous coward post. It's not modded down, it just starts at 0 by default. I'd say that won't change until there's AI good enough to automatically tell intelligent posts from poor ones. Since humans don't even have that skill down yet, I'd say it could be a while.
The Quirkz Handbook of Self-Improvement for People Who Are Already Pretty Okay
That has blown my mind.
What about dark matter ? Does anyone know how that figures into this ?
It doesn't.
Dark matter is used to explain the rotation rates of galaxies (there isn't enough visible matter to account for those rates.)
This study says we have more galaxies than we thought, not more stars within them than we thought.
If it weren't for deadlines, nothing would be late.
Yet. Three hundred years ago, most of the mundane tech we use on a daily basis would have been considered to be impossible. FTL travel might be impossible via acceleration, but there are many ways to skin a cat. I think that if we don't accidental wipe ourselves out, we will eventually work out some way to travel between stars.
And there is alien life out there. The trick is just finding it.
HA! I just wasted some of your bandwidth with a frivolous sig!
If there is much more mass beyond the observable universe won't that help explain why the observable universe is expanding faster than it should (based on the mass of the observable universe)?
It's not gibberish. It was devised as a tool for promoting discussion. It's not and never was meant to used in earnest.
systemd is Roko's Basilisk.
I mean, it's literally only 120 years since people were saying things like "heavier than air flight is impossible, we know the physics, we know the materials, it's just not feasible"
I mean, it's literally only 120 years since people were saying things like "heavier than air flight is impossible, we know the physics, we know the materials, it's just not feasible"
Who the fuck ever said that? Are birds lighter than air?
You said "literally" so I expect a quote backing your bullshit up.
The Drake equation is still bullshit, this doesn't change it.
It's very probable. But since we also know that the Periodic Table of Elements is universal, as well as the fundamental forces, we also know things like warp drive are just not feasible...
So they are over there, and we are here. End of story.
Not end of story. In fact, we have no idea how the story ends, or even how long it is. The human notion of accepted physics has been constantly evolving and is still changing every year. For example, two hundred years ago we had virtually no understanding of electromagnetism, or that our theories of electricity and magnetism would be unified. I find it incredibly arrogant and shortsighted to believe that FTL travel via warp drive must be impossible simply because our current understanding of the universe (which we know to be incomplete) can't make it work.
We believe antimatter exists yet we are terrible at working with it. Hell, we still don't know anything about dark energy or dark matter, though we think they probably exist. We spend billions of dollars searching for predicted subatomic particles and find things we hadn't even imagined, and we are just beginning to get into quantum spookiness. It was not so many generations ago that terrestrial human flight sounded preposterous, so I'm a long way from accepting the conjecture that warp drive is not possible. It could be that we are multiple currently-unimaginable breakthroughs away from starting to understand how.
This is a hacked account, for which the owner can not be held responsible.
well, it's 121 years, but according to this article on Lord Kelvin, he said something like that (not exact - but exactness was not specified). I'm inclined to give him the year.
I mean, it's literally only 120 years since people were saying things like "heavier than air flight is impossible, we know the physics, we know the materials, it's just not feasible"
Who the fuck ever said that? Are birds lighter than air? You said "literally" so I expect a quote backing your bullshit up.
Lord Kelvin said some things along those lines within ten years of the Wright Brothers. He also said lots of other silly things on other topics like calling x-rays a "hoax". This page cites sources and has links to scans and such.
"I have not the smallest molecule of faith in aerial navigation other than ballooning or of the expectation of good results from any of the trials we hear of ... I would not care to be a member of the Aeronautical Society." [Source]
"The air-ship, on the plan of those built by Santos-Dumont, is a delusion and a snare. A gas balloon, paddled around by oars, is an old idea, and can never be of any practical use. Some day, no doubt, some one will invent a flying machine that one will be able to navigate without having to have a balloon attachment. But the day is a long way off when we shall see human beings soaring around like birds." [TLWT, vol. 2, p. 1168]
"They never will be able to use dirigible balloons as a means of conveying passengers from place to place. There never was and never can be any commercial value to any such affair. It is all a delusion and a snare. Santos-Dumont is a very bright young man, but an air ship as planned by him is not practicable." [Said to reporters after having arrived in New York on April 19, 1902. Quoted in the New York Times, p.2, the next day.]
According to your quote, Lord Kevin specifically said that he believed airplanes would no doubt eventually be invented: "Some day, no doubt, some one will invent a flying machine that one will be able to navigate without having to have a balloon attachment. But the day is a long way off when we shall see human beings soaring around like birds."
That's the opposite position from what was asserted. The context here was a claim that scientists who believe warp drive is physically impossible and cannot be invented even with unlimited resources and a billion years are equivalent to historical scientists like Lord Kelvin denying the possibility of airplanes. But you've just shown us that Lord Kelvin was completely confident that airplanes could and would eventually be built, and simply greatly miscalculated the timing.
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We now know that the building blocks of evolution and the conditions it required are not at all unique to Earth. That gives us good reason to suspect there's other life even in our own solar system, probably several places in it. Technological civilizations are much harder to predict the frequency of, but we be pretty sure there's life.
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Isaac Asimov has a great response to that old canard.
And did you exchange a walk on part in the war for a lead role in a cage? - Pink Floyd.