LET'S Put it In Perspective!

[IanR]

Nicked from http://www.setileague.org/general/drake.htm

 

 

Is there a way to estimate the number of technologically advanced civilizations that might exist in our Galaxy? While working at the National Radio Astronomy Observatory in Green Bank, West Virginia, Dr. Frank Drake conceived a means to mathematically estimate the number of worlds that might harbor beings with technology sufficient to communicate across the vast gulfs of interstellar space. The Drake Equation, as it came to be known, was formulated in 1961 and is generally accepted by the scientific community.

 

N = R* fp ne fl fi fc L

 

where,

 

N = The number of communicative civilizations

R* = The rate of formation of suitable stars (stars such as our Sun)

fp = The fraction of those stars with planets. (Current evidence indicates that planetary systems may be common for stars like the Sun.)

ne = The number of Earth-like worlds per planetary system

fl = The fraction of those Earth-like planets where life actually develops

fi = The fraction of life sites where intelligence develops

fc = The fraction of communicative planets (those on which electromagnetic communications technology develops)

L = The "lifetime" of communicating civilizations

Frank Drake's own current solution to the Drake Equation estimates 10,000 communicative civilizations in the Milky Way. Dr. Drake, who serves on the SETI League's advisory board, has personally endorsed SETI's planned all-sky survey.

 

 

 

Cheers

 

Ian.

[Bobj]

The chances of life forms like we have on Earth are extremely remote, even if there are billions of stars and planets. It needed a particular set of circumstances like size,temperature,mixture of gas's, plant forms and a host of other conditions all coming together at the same short point in the history of our planet.

 

Just consider how long it took to arrive at that point in time/evolution, and then add in all the other variables, and it is very unlikely that life similar to us has developed anywhere else. Look at Mars for instance, just that tiny bit nearer to the sun, and quite uninhabitable, shift us a few million miles nearer and we all cook, a few million miles further away and we all freeze.

 

I suppose it could also be argued that there is a greater intelligence out there somewhere which decided to use Earth as a playground/laboritory/pleasure garden, and set up the basics as Earth arrived at a suitable point in its existence, and then sat back and watched us evolve......................

Human life is ultimately doomed to dissapear from the universe as our sun starts to heat up and expand, to finally explode outwards before collapsing back into a frozen lump of material.

 

Den

Had a look at a photo of the Hercules Group of galaxies; and virtually all these 'smudges' are galaxies as big as our galaxy, then, surely some life is out there? I cannot believe that Planet Earth is the only speck of life in the Universe...

Edited May 26, 2008 by Bobj

[Bobj]

Coming back to Earth, or under it in this instance, have a squiz at this:

 

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/art...can-desert.html

[Bobj]

Another shot in the arm for astronomic discussion: had a squiz at Eta Carinae t'other night and I'm sure it is brighter, so I did a bit of research and got side tracked by this:

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

 

Imagine comparing a pea to a medicine ball!!

[Newt]

I remain in awe of some of the daily photos posted to the NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html

 

It surely is a big old place out there.