2024 - We may be able to detects signs on alien life with world's largest and most powerful telescope ever

[Vision33r]

Religious groups got what they wanted. NASA space programs largely cut because the govt can't support programs that advance our kind but we have to spend billions to fund social services programs.

Like the movie Avatar and Aliens, it would depend on private corporations for the future of space exploration.

[Brake_Dust]

You already see how the religious members of our board react to any attacks on their beliefs. Something like finding intelligent Life on another planet pretty much invalidates their entire Bible. Do you remember how disappointed you were when you found out there was no Santa Claus? Now, multiply that disappointment by the factor of a gazillion by men with fingers on atomic weapons. You think the islamic fanatics wouldn't rather burn the world than admit the Koran was wrong?

This is why we here on Earth are not ready just yet..

I would say Earth is the equivalent to Florida in the solar system for who knows how long.
We will never see this event in our lifetime.

[cockerpunk]

You already see how the religious members of our board react to any attacks on their beliefs. Something like finding intelligent Life on another planet pretty much invalidates their entire Bible. Do you remember how disappointed you were when you found out there was no Santa Claus? Now, multiply that disappointment by the factor of a gazillion by men with fingers on atomic weapons. You think the islamic fanatics wouldn't rather burn the world than admit the Koran was wrong?

eh, a small vocal minority.

most people are reasonable, and fascinated by science, technology and exploration even if they are religious.

i am just not convinced we'd actually see mass hysteria, or a societal breakdown. i know, call me crazy or an optimist, but i just dont see a reason, and frankly, nearly every time that science is on the ballot, it is upheld by even those who identify as religious. and if it does lose, its quickly identified as a problem and fixed next cycle.

[Noob Saibot]

I would say Earth is the equivalent to Florida in the solar system.

Earth, the Florida of the solar system.

I like it!

[Egilbe]

eh, a small vocal minority.

most people are reasonable, and fascinated by science, technology and exploration even if they are religious.

i am just not convinced we'd actually see mass hysteria, or a societal breakdown. i know, call me crazy or an optimist, but i just dont see a reason, and frankly, nearly every time that science is on the ballot, it is upheld by even those who identify as religious. and if it does lose, its quickly identified as a problem and fixed next cycle.

It's not the reasonable majority you ahve to worry about, it's the insane minority. He who can destroy a thing, controls it.

[Brake_Dust]

eh, a small vocal minority.

most people are reasonable, and fascinated by science, technology and exploration even if they are religious.

i am just not convinced we'd actually see mass hysteria, or a societal breakdown. i know, call me crazy or an optimist, but i just dont see a reason, and frankly, nearly every time that science is on the ballot, it is upheld by even those who identify as religious. and if it does lose, its quickly identified as a problem and fixed next cycle.

FOOL!

[bluerabbit0886]

Earth, the Florida of the solar system.

I like it!

I lol'd

[04golf]

I do think it would be ignorant to think we are the only life out there. If we exist here, there is a good chance life exist else where. Maybe not in the human form, who knows. There are some freaky looking creatures lurking below the ocean.

But who knows if other life has figured out how to use the resources on their planet to their advantage such as we have. Its also highly possible they dont have the same resources and have different ones. Humans used what was on earth and created the technology, medicine, fuel etc.. that we have today. Its possible other life are still living like caveman.

[Noob Saibot]

What if we are the most advanced species in the bitch? I mean, maybe we will be the ones to wreck some inter galactic Harvey Firesteins' day with big ships and green lasers and shyt. What if I have to kill bizzaro Harry Connick Jr. In an air fight? What if Bill Pullman was president? Wait, what are we talking about?

[White Jetta]

Cool! I'd love to listen in on another civilizations radio waves, and hopefully understand them. Even better would be to see video signals they broadcast. And maybe even some alien porn!

For all we know it could already be happening and not being released because our wonderful leaders are trying to get the upper hand on any technological information that may be in the signals.

[TetsuoShima]

Cool! I'd love to listen in on another civilizations radio waves, and hopefully understand them. Even better would be to see video signals they broadcast. And maybe even some alien porn!

For all we know it could already be happening and not being released because our wonderful leaders are trying to get the upper hand on any technological information that may be in the signals.

If Alien's are listening to us then they'd think we're the most messed up people. Just think back to what we've been broadcasting for the last ~150-200 years.

Just to put it in perspective at how much power this telescope has and just how much distance there is in the universe..

1 light year = 5.87849981 × 10^12 miles in words that's about 6 trillion miles. Look at this picture and think about it:




Here's a link to the picture so you can zoom in and get a better view:

http://planetary.s3.amazonaws.com/im...broadcasts.jpg


Mind boggling..

[Aonarch]

Craziness.

[winstonsmith84]

If Alien's are listening to us then they'd think we're the most messed up people. Just think back to what we've been broadcasting for the last ~150-200 years.

Wait, I thought that was just lightning tonight when I hit 88mph in my Ford Freestyle. Guess I was wrong.

[Egilbe]

Wait, I thought that was just lightning tonight when I hit 88mph in my Ford Freestyle. Guess I was wrong.

Maybe 100 I could believe...but 200?

[Robstr]

1880s are when radio waves were really first used to transmit information, they were theorized and experimented with in like the 1830s. So radio development is nearly 200 years old now.

Of course, broadcasts that would be above background at a reasonable distance wouldn't happen until much later.

[Egilbe]

The term wireless telegraphy is a historical term used today to apply to early radio telegraph communications techniques and practices, particularly those used during the first three decades of radio (1887 to 1920) before the term radio came into use. Guglielmo Marconi demonstrated application of radio in commercial, military and marine communications and started a company for the development and propagation of radio communication services and equipment. The field of radio development attracted many researchers, and bitter arguments[who?] over the true "inventor of radio" persist to this day

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_radio

I was reading somewhere that int 1865 it was theorized that EM could be used to transmit a signal. Marconi worked from that.

found it

James Clerk Maxwell demonstrated that electric and magnetic fields travel through space in the form of waves and at the constant speed of light. In 1865, Maxwell published A Dynamical Theory of the Electromagnetic Field. It was with this that he first proposed that light was in fact undulations in the same medium that is the cause of electric and magnetic phenomena.[5] His work in producing a unified model of electromagnetism is one of the greatest advances in physics.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Clerk_Maxwell

The earliest radio stations were simply radiotelegraphy systems and did not carry audio. The first claimed audio transmission that could be termed a broadcast occurred on Christmas Eve in 1906, and was made by Reginald Fessenden. Whether this broadcast actually took place is disputed.[2] While many early experimenters attempted to create systems similar to radiotelephone devices by which only two parties were meant to communicate, there were others who intended to transmit to larger audiences. Charles Herrold started broadcasting in California in 1909 and was carrying audio by the next year. (Herrold's station eventually became KCBS).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radio_broadcasting

[Ernie McCracken]

If Alien's are listening to us then they'd think we're the most messed up people. Just think back to what we've been broadcasting for the last ~150-200 years.

They probably are. Or at least could if they wanted to. Given the sheer magnitude of the universe, it's almost certain that type ii or iii and beyond civilizations exist. If they aren't actively observing (why would they?), they are at least aware of our existence.

I can't imagine why an advanced civilization would care about humans, though. We're not even trilobites on the universe scale. Maybe pond scum. And pond scum that's been around for the blink of an eye and will go extinct long before it figures out the complexities of time and space. Feel insignificant yet?

[Egilbe]

They probably are. Or at least could if they wanted to. Given the sheer magnitude of the universe, it's almost certain that type ii or iii and beyond civilizations exist. If they aren't actively observing (why would they?), they are at least aware of our existence.

I can't imagine why an advanced civilization would care about humans, though. We're not even trilobites on the universe scale. Maybe pond scum. And pond scum that's been around for the blink of an eye and will go extinct long before it figures out the complexities of time and space. Feel insignificant yet?

Blasphemer! Heresy! We are God's children, made in his image!

[koko12]

I really don't understand why so many in here feel that discovering life on another planet would turn religion on it's head. Most religious leaders today have more schooling than most college graduates and embrace science and its advances along with their religious believes.

Personally I think it's completely close-minded and ironic to think just because a person is religious that person is also devoid of logic and reasoning.

[rexxmann]

Cool! I'd love to listen in on another civilizations radio waves, and hopefully understand them. Even better would be to see video signals they broadcast. And maybe even some alien porn!

For all we know it could already be happening and not being released because our wonderful leaders are trying to get the upper hand on any technological information that may be in the signals.

[Oh Hello!]

I really don't understand why so many in here feel that discovering life on another planet would turn religion on it's head. Most religious leaders today have more schooling than most college graduates and embrace science and its advances along with their religious believes.

Personally I think it's completely close-minded and ironic to think just because a person is religious that person is also devoid of logic and reasoning.

THIS!!


And we haven't even found all the species on earth yet. We aren't ready to be finding aliens on other planets.

[CK98Beeetle]

We all like to think something can make mankind as a whole, go into mass hysteria, but nothing has ever done it in the past, and nothing will, unless it's a complete global catastrophic tragedy... cue all end of the world scenarios. Even if extra terrestrials landed in the USA, do you think 3rd would countries would even find out or care about it?

Also, why would aliens think we were some sort of horrible species? Do you look at an ant hill and think, "those bastards! look at the way they slave for that queen and fight to the death over something so small." No, you think, "Oh look, that's a big ant hill. Look at the way those ants work, interesting." and as a kid, you study it. Before you know it, you're over it and move on.

I've never understood the hate humans have for their own species.

[feels_road]

I wonder if this will be the device which gives us actual pictures of habitable alien worlds. Can't wait.

Radio waves aren't all that good at that. However, if a remote civilization uses radio waves for whatever purposes (e.g., radar or communications), then this array would be sufficiently large to pick it up within a certain distance (several 10s of light-years).

Someone correct me if I'm wrong but do radio waves work the same way as light? Like if we detect something billions of light years away would that mean the signal is also billions of years old?

Yes, they are both electromagnetic waves (like microwaves, IR, UV, x-rays and gamma rays) and propagate at the speed of light in near vacuum (as space is). However, the objectives of this array will be diverse. For example, looking at remote galaxies at the far reaches of the visible universe 12-13 billion light-years away addresses different questions than trying to find non-natural sources of radio signals within a few tens of light years. So, the later signals are rather recent in origin, in comparison.

Another thing - what if advanced races are using a different medium than radio? Will this be able to detect other types of communication medium? What if radio communication to them is like someone trying to contact you in New York from Beijing using a smoke signal?

Obviously, this array detects a (broad) range of radio waves, only. But, such waves can be used for purposes other than communication by civilizations (e.g., radar).

Currently the best method to indirectly detect extraterrestrial live is to look at absorption spectra when remote planets happen to pass in front of their stars. By analyzing the fingerprint signatures (mostly in the optical and IR range - not radio waves), it is possible to identify the molecules in the planets' atmospheres and their relative abundance, and derive conclusions. For example, a mixture of oxygen and methane is not stable, and thus requires a continued source of methane - which might be life.

[Brake_Dust]

I really don't understand why so many in here feel that discovering life on another planet would turn religion on it's head. Most religious leaders today have more schooling than most college graduates and embrace science and its advances along with their religious *believes.

Personally I think it's completely close-minded and ironic to think just because a person is religious that person is also devoid of logic and reasoning.

*beliefs
we all have our limitations. . .

When you surmise an existence based on a self-absorbed reality, you set a course for a biased reflection.

The inflection of tradition and sweeping truth out of sight is horrid and hypocritical.

We live like saints with sin.

[Lsos2]

Documentary about what would happen if we had an alien invasion. Interesting watch.

Couldn't find better links. There are torrents out there....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6LuZt...layer_embedded

[winstonsmith84]

I would think radio transmissions would be our greatest defense against the space aliens. Who would want anything to do with a people that have things such as Ke$ha and Rush Limbaugh.

[A.Wilder]

If Alien's are listening to us then they'd think we're the most messed up people. Just think back to what we've been broadcasting for the last ~150-200 years.

Just to put it in perspective at how much power this telescope has and just how much distance there is in the universe..

1 light year = 5.87849981 × 10^12 miles in words that's about 6 trillion miles. Look at this picture and think about it:

Here's a link to the picture so you can zoom in and get a better view:

http://planetary.s3.amazonaws.com/im...broadcasts.jpg


Mind boggling..

really cool graphic

[Egilbe]

We all like to think something can make mankind as a whole, go into mass hysteria, but nothing has ever done it in the past, and nothing will, unless it's a complete global catastrophic tragedy... cue all end of the world scenarios. Even if extra terrestrials landed in the USA, do you think 3rd would countries would even find out or care about it?

Also, why would aliens think we were some sort of horrible species? Do you look at an ant hill and think, "those bastards! look at the way they slave for that queen and fight to the death over something so small." No, you think, "Oh look, that's a big ant hill. Look at the way those ants work, interesting." and as a kid, you study it. Before you know it, you've got the magnifying glass out and are frying the little bastards

I've never understood the hate humans have for their own species.

FTFY

[Vision33r]

If Aliens made a landing on the lawn of the white house and broadcasted over TV airwaves. Many of the poor countries controlled by religious sects would just write it off as Hollywood stunts.

An Omnipotent life form or specie out there probably think we're just simple lifeforms like bacteria and viruses.

We multiply out of control and there are no natural enemy other than our own and nature. It will probably take thousands of years evolution for our specie to rid of certain bad genes and become successful enough to make the transition to a higher specie than the current.

[feels_road]

If Alien's are listening to us then they'd think we're the most messed up people. Just think back to what we've been broadcasting for the last ~150-200 years.

Yeah, look at the first TV program that was picked up from outer space in the movie Contact...

[A.Wilder]

I don't think proof of alien life will affect religion the way many think it will. The "discovery" of north and south america didn't change religion very much. If anything, it will adapt again.

[Egilbe]

I don't think proof of alien life will affect religion the way many think it will. The "discovery" of north and south america didn't change religion very much. If anything, it will adapt again.

It changed North and South American's religion quite a bit.

[TetsuoShima]

I don't think proof of alien life will affect religion the way many think it will. The "discovery" of north and south america didn't change religion very much. If anything, it will adapt again.

God invented those other life forms...even though there is no mention of it in the Bible...lol the older i get the more i can't believe people actually believe in religion(not to be mistaken for believing in God).

ANYWAY...let's not go down that route lol

Did you guys here what will happen to us in ~4 billion years?

This incredible image shows how our skies will look when the Milky Way galaxy collides with our cosmic neighbour, the Andromeda galaxy, in four billion years.

Astronomers at NASA have confirmed that, according to their latest models, a major collision will occur in a major cosmic event.

The head-on encounter is expected to happen four billion years from now - catapulting our sun to another area of the galaxy, with stars tossed on to different orbits, astronomers at the Space Telescope Science Institute revealed on Thursday.


Starting off as a tiny speck in the distance, the galaxy known as Andromeda (left of the picture) looks harmless at first


The formerly tiny galaxy now dominates the foreground of the computer generated image as it swallows up the Milky Way


The Aftermath: Following the collision of the two galaxies, a countless number of stars will be sent spinning into space as Andromeda and the Milky Way lose their previous forms

Although Earth and its solar system won't be destroyed, it will be pushed away from the galactic core more than it is now.

'After nearly a century of speculation about the future destiny of Andromeda and our Milky Way, we at last have a clear picture of how events will unfold over the coming billions of years,' said Sangmo Tony Sohn, Baltimore, Maryland-based institute.

After the Andromeda galaxy finally strikes the Milky Way, it will be another two billion years before the two totally come together and form a single elliptical galaxy.


Colossal: This NASA illustration shows the Milky Way (left) and the Andromeda galaxy, which are expected to collide in four billion years from now


Impact: Earth won't be destroyed when Andromeda smashes into the Milky Way (pictured), but stars will likely be tossed into different orbits and it will take an additional two billion years for the two galaxies to totally merge


A mutual pull of gravity is bringing the two galaxies together as Andromeda, known to scientists as M31, falls at a ferocious rate toward the Milky Way.

Andromeda is currently 2.5million light-years away.

'In the 'worst-case scenario' simulation, M31 slams into the Milky Way head-on and the stars are all scattered into orbits,' said team member Gurtina Besla in a statement.

The Andromeda is plowing toward Earth's galaxy at roughly 250,000 miles per hour.

That rate is the equivalent of traveling from Earth to the moon in an hour.

Astronomers also believe a third, smaller galaxy called the Triangulum will also be a part of the collision and could join the Milky Way and Andromeda mash-up.


Fast: Andromeda (pictured) is plowing toward Earth's galaxy at roughly 250,000 miles per hour, which is the equivalent of traveling from Earth to the moon in 60 minutes


It previously had been difficult to determine whether the two galaxies would slam into each other.

Members of the NASA Hubble Space Telescope team, however, were able to make certain that the two will crash with exact views of Andromeda's sideways motion.


Change: When the two galaxies collide, the sun (pictured) will be catapulted across another area of the galaxy


'This was accomplished by repeatedly observing select regions of the galaxy over a five- to seven-year period,' said the institute's Jay Anderson, in a statement.

The astronomers used extremely powerful cameras to capture the measurements that were crucial to understand the motion of Andromeda.

As the universe expands and accelerates, collisions can happen between two galaxies close together because of the gravity from dark matter around them.

These types of mergers were more likely to happen in the past when the universe was not as large as it is today.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencete...da-galaxy.html

[White Jetta]

I better start packing now!

[Turbio!]

I do think it would be ignorant to think we are the only life out there. If we exist here, there is a good chance life exist else where. Maybe not in the human form, who knows. There are some freaky looking creatures lurking below the ocean.
.

Personally, I'd be astonished if we weren't the only technological civilization within hailing distance in this time period. I have no doubt that there are hundreds of millions of technological civilizations throughout the universe - perhaps two or three per galaxy - and I have no doubt that there have been or will be technological civilizations within a few tens of light years of us. But I think the chances are vanishingly tiny that there's another civilization close enough to play footsie with that's equipped to do so right about now. I mean, who knows, there could be intelligent beings that could pick up our transmissions now...except they're currently in their Bronze Age.

I think biospheres are probably just friggin' everywhere, but for 99.5% of its existence, hominids were no more able to communicate with the stars than a dolphin is, and our entire existence is a tiny fraction of the history of Earth.