Aliens

[huskertim]

I have always found astronomy fascinating. The greatest gift my interest has given my is the smallest inclination of scale. To say the least, the universe is pretty f'ing big, I refuse the idea that on limitless planets orbiting limitless stars we are the only inteligent species. That's pretty much the statistical equivalent of winning the lottery twice without buying a ticket. As to visitation, well evidence has certainly been presented that would make it conceivable, but the idea that aliens are slithing around our trailer parks abducting hillbilly''s doesn't fit any logic. That said, man's been around for a lot longer than our history can account for, so the idea of "ancient aliens" isn't entirely unrealistic. Certainly, when we develope the technology to travel to the stars, we will make an impact on life elsewhere.

[Husker_x]

NASA scientists last night unveiled compelling evidence of life on Mars.

A special mission to the Red Planet has revealed the likely presence of a form of pond scum - the building blocks of life as we know it.

 

NASA unveiled the results of the recent Opportunity and Spirit probes sent millions of miles through the solar system to discover signs of extraterrestrial life.

 

The results are so promising boffins have already planned a host of other missions to discover whether there is extraterrestrial life in the universe.

 

The recent missions have gathered evidence of sulphates on Mars, a strong indication there is water on the planet and therefore life.

 

Previous missions to Mars have concluded there is probably water on the planet.

 

But the NASA boffins said the recent missions have gone further than any others in proving there is life on Mars.

 

They were particularly excited about the discovery of a sulphate called gypsum which, it has emerged recently, is found in large quantities among fossils in the Mediterranean.

 

Jack Farmer, researcher at the Arizona State University, in Tempe, Arizona, said he was "optimistic" there was - or had been - life on Mars.

 

Another of the scientists Bill Schopf, researcher at the University of California in Los Angeles, added: "One, thanks to Opportunity and the rovers and orbital imaging it is clear that there are literally vast areas of Mars that are carpeted with various sorts of sulphates, including gypsum.

 

"Two, it turns out on earth there just hasn't been hardly any work done at all to show whether gypsum ever includes within it preserved evidence of former life.

 

"The age doesn't matter. We just didn't know that fossils and organic matter and things like that were well preserved within gypsum.

 

"So, three, it turns out that now we have made that first step we are going to find out how widespread it is in other sulphate deposits on earth.

 

"And those lines of evidence will then give us a way to justify going to Mars and looking at gypsum because it looks as though based on these findings that is going to turn out to be a really excellent place to find evidence of ancient life, regardless of age, if in fact it is there."

 

Five experts took part in last night's press conference to celebrate 50 years of astrobiology research.

 

Dr Steve Squyres, of Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, said the only way of being sure there is life on Mars was to bring back a sample of Mars rock.

 

He also said that the detection of methane in the martian atmosphere - as revealed exclusively by The Sun - raised the possibility that there was still life on Mars today.

 

"Methane is a molecule that should go away very quickly. We need to send a mission to find out if the source is biological.

 

 

Strange ... a spaceprobe orbiting Mars has sent back amazing pictures

"We also need to send a mission to return samples from Mars. That would enable scientists to find out whether Mars might ever have harboured life.

 

"If we are ever going to show if there was ever life on Mars, I think we're going to have to study samples back on Earth."

 

Almost 30 other NASA missions to discover life in space - including one to bring back rocks from Mars - have already been planned.

 

There are also plans to visit Jupiter's moon Europa to explore its deep underground ocean and a moon of Saturn, Enceladus, which spouted ice volcanoes.

 

Long-term missions will also return to Saturn's biggest moon Titan, sending a balloon flying through its atmosphere and landing a probe in its surface lakes.

 

Future missions would also visit comets.

 

NASA scientists have been searching for extraterrestrial life on other planets for some time.

 

Last November the space organisation launched the Kepler space telescope to look for Earth-size planets in this galaxy.

 

The telescope is on a three-and-a-half-year mission to find planets.

 

NASA has so far been able to download data - but many believe there are aliens out there.

 

British physicist Stephen Hawking said this week aliens might be traveling through the cosmos right now - but he warned they might have evil intentions.

 

LINK

 

Seems things are looking up!

[jnkyrdoff6]

British physicist Stephen Hawking said this week aliens might be traveling through the cosmos right now - but he warned they might have evil intentions.

To further paraphrase, he said we shouldn't necessarily seek out extra-terrestrials life because it may be more advanced than we are, and may have evil intentions. The way I look at it, if we meet it we're most likely more advanced, and if it meets us it won't matter. There are ethical concerns in doing so, but disregarding those, it's in man's inquisitive nature to seek alien life.

As far as the rest of the article is concerned, it seems really promising.

[Hingle McCringleberry]

While I think life in the universe is rare, very rare in fact, I think it should be out there in some form.

 

Hawking brings up a good point, it is a common misconception that we are, say, 100 years away from a Star Trek kind of world, and people think that if aliens were to invade that we would be behind them, but only just, kinda like the movie independence day, or the TV show Star Gate. This is total nonsense. A space faring race would have evolved way past us. There levels of power, and technology would be so far beyond us it would seem like magic, kinda like giving an iPhone to a cave man. I read an article once, that said think of a species being 1 million years ahead of us in evolution. Now apply that to how fast our world is currently collecting data and advancing and you start to get the idea, they went on to say now think of 2 million and so on. If these beings decided to destroy us we could not fight back, there victory would be total. Even if they were non violent, I dont think we could even communicate with them, although if they are that advanced, I wold think they would have some way to dumb it down for us. I think it was a fella named Kardashev who came up with the 3 levels of evolution. 1 is command over the planet (we are barely in this group). 2 is command over your solar system (Start Trek is an early one of these), and 3 is a command over galaxies (the star wars universe is a 2-3 level). Found a link to this scale

 

Back to the OP talking about fiber optic cable being reverse engineered, I also find that to be nonsense. If this race was even a few thousand years ahead, we would have no concept of how there tech even operated, how the power systems worked etc. I saw a documentary on History Channel about this and they pretty much came up with the same conclusions, and followed that up with proof of fiber optics in development for years, along with printed circuits, micro chips etc. We humans have advanced a to in the last 100 years, from horse drawn buggies to space flight, but in reality we still get our power from hydrocarbons, and we use chemicals to toss ourselves into space, where we cannot survive without an umbilical back to earth. These races would have the ability to either bend space enough to travel the mind boggling distances between us, or have moved into space (or at least some of them) for generations, possibly extending there lives though genetic manipulation. All things we talk about but are pretty much unable to do. Although I love this kind of topic. It really is neat to wonder what is out there. Unfortunately we were all born about 100 thousand years to early.

 

In the end if we humans can hold on for another 2-3 thousand years I would think we will start to push well beyond our solar system, and in say 100 thousand years travel the galaxy.

[GMoose]

Hawking made a good point in that "into the universe". If people were created by compounds bouncing of each other and creating evolutionary forces, and the universe in infinitesimal, it's really improbable that aliens DON'T exist. I thought it was a good point, personally.

[Husker_x]

Hawking made a good point in that "into the universe". If people were created by compounds bouncing of each other and creating evolutionary forces, and the universe in infinitesimal, it's really improbable that aliens DON'T exist. I thought it was a good point, personally.

 

The problem that we run into when determining models of probability is that we're dealing with a single data point. That's earth. We know (and are incredibly lucky to know) quite a lot about the evolutionary pathways life has taken on this planet, but trying to determine if there's life on other planets is anyone's guess.

[sd'sker]

here's a quote i like to think about: "Did anyone ever stop and think maybe we are the aliens?" -Ke$ha

 

edit: maybe it was a pro-immigration stance, i don't know.

[GSG]

here's a quote i like to think about: "Did anyone ever stop and think maybe we are the aliens?" -Ke$ha

 

edit: maybe it was a pro-immigration stance, i don't know.

 

Ke$ha!! zOMG!!!!1!!

[knapplc]

The problem that we run into when determining models of probability is that we're dealing with a single data point. That's earth. We know (and are incredibly lucky to know) quite a lot about the evolutionary pathways life has taken on this planet, but trying to determine if there's life on other planets is anyone's guess.

 

Well, we can't determine anything. All we can do is guess based on probabilities. If only one percent of the known stars have planets, and only one percent of those planets are earth-like, and only one percent of those have any kind of life at all, and only one percent of that has intelligent life and only one percent of that intelligent life is as advanced as we are, there should be tens of thousands of civilizations like ours out there, somewhere.

 

But that's only one set of numbers based on one set of guesses. Who knows what the statistics are? We have no basis because, as you say, we only have this one data point to go on.

 

The problem is that the distances involved are so vast, and the numbers of stars/planets is so vast, that it's unlikely that we'll contact or be contacted. It's likely our civilization will rise, flourish and fall and not land in that "magic moment" when another civilization meets ours, especially when you put it into the near infinite realm of time.

[sd'sker]

The problem that we run into when determining models of probability is that we're dealing with a single data point. That's earth. We know (and are incredibly lucky to know) quite a lot about the evolutionary pathways life has taken on this planet, but trying to determine if there's life on other planets is anyone's guess.

 

Well, we can't determine anything. All we can do is guess based on probabilities. If only one percent of the known stars have planets, and only one percent of those planets are earth-like, and only one percent of those have any kind of life at all, and only one percent of that has intelligent life and only one percent of that intelligent life is as advanced as we are, there should be tens of thousands of civilizations like ours out there, somewhere.

 

But that's only one set of numbers based on one set of guesses. Who knows what the statistics are? We have no basis because, as you say, we only have this one data point to go on.

 

The problem is that the distances involved are so vast, and the numbers of stars/planets is so vast, that it's unlikely that we'll contact or be contacted. It's likely our civilization will rise, flourish and fall and not land in that "magic moment" when another civilization meets ours, especially when you put it into the near infinite realm of time.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/science/space/article7107207.ece

[Apathy]

I believe that their is other life throughout the Universe. Its hard to believe that we are the only living breathing intelligent life form and their is nothing else out there.

 

I may be one of the weirdest person on this board for the stuff I watch. I'm an avid Ghost Hunters, Destination Truth, UFO Hunters, or anything UFO related. All of the unknown that goes in and beyond this world intrigues and makes me want to know more about the unknown and the TRUTH.

[Husker_x]

I believe that their is other life throughout the Universe. Its hard to believe that we are the only living breathing intelligent life form and their is nothing else out there.

 

I may be one of the weirdest person on this board for the stuff I watch. I'm an avid Ghost Hunters, Destination Truth, UFO Hunters, or anything UFO related. All of the unknown that goes in and beyond this world intrigues and makes me want to know more about the unknown and the TRUTH.

 

Be careful at being taken in by people who claim to know 'the truth' about monsters, UFOs, ghosts, or gods. I too am very interested in those topics. A lot of people talk a big game and tell a great story. None of them give you tangible evidence; and if and when they do, be sure to let me know, because I'm as interested as anyone.

 

I can't recommend the books by Carl Sagan, Michael Shermer, and James Randi enough. Brian Dunning produces a fantastic weekly podcast at skeptoid.com which covers many of the popular alien encounters/ghost/miracle/monster stories out there. I'm a professed skeptic when it comes to all these things. Only way I'm aware of to weed out bullsh#t from reality.

[Judoka]

Look at the hostile environments of the earth, I find it hard to believe that some type of life doesn't exist throughout the universe. Whether or not it is intelligent, who can say for sure. If there is, I hope that they never find us or we them.

[knapplc]

If there are no aliens, then who stole Jupiter's stripe?

 

 

According to new images collected by astronomers, it would appear that one of the most prominent clouds on Jupiter has disappeared, almost over night. Images of the gas giant, taken on May 9, reveal a smooth and common area right where the Southern Equatorial Belt should have been. Because the feature is now missing, the famous Great Red Spot on Jupiter is highly-visible, by contrast with its surrounding areas. As astronomers know, the impressive storm was usually located on the edge of the cloud feature that has now disappeared, Space reports.

 

Four days ago, when Australian astronomer Anthony Wesley looked over his photos of Jupiter, he was amazed to learn that the cloud stripe had disappeared. The Great Red Spot really stood out, mainly because it's incredibly large in itself. It can easily fit two Earths in its diameter, and researchers estimate that the storm has been going on for at least a few centuries. There is no telling when it ends, however, but the disappearance of the Southern Equatorial Belt is proof that such formations can indeed cease to exist. Another result of Jupiter's “transformation” is the fact that the Northern Equatorial Belt now also stands out from the background.

 

“Jupiter with only one belt is almost like seeing Saturn when its rings are edge-on and invisible for a time – it just doesn't look right,” wrote on his blog Bob King, who is a skywatcher. Truth be told, all amateur astronomers begin by looking at our solar system's gas giants, and also at the smaller, inner planets. Seeing such remarkable changes on celestial bodies that have looked the same for centuries is indeed an event that takes some getting used to.

 

The disappearance of the cloud feature shouldn't have come as a surprise to astronomers, however. Since 2008, measurements have shown that most spot-like storm features, including the GRS, were shrinking. Experts also identified lower levels of activity in the Southern Equatorial Belt, which also appeared to be diminishing in size. This is not the first instance in which the gas giant shows some anomalous weather patterns. Given the fact that we've only been studying the planet in such close detail for less than a century, it stands to reason that we still don't know how to make sense of a lot of phenomena taking place on the surface.

[Judoka]

If there are no aliens, then who stole Jupiter's stripe?

 

 

According to new images collected by astronomers, it would appear that one of the most prominent clouds on Jupiter has disappeared, almost over night. Images of the gas giant, taken on May 9, reveal a smooth and common area right where the Southern Equatorial Belt should have been. Because the feature is now missing, the famous Great Red Spot on Jupiter is highly-visible, by contrast with its surrounding areas. As astronomers know, the impressive storm was usually located on the edge of the cloud feature that has now disappeared, Space reports.

 

Four days ago, when Australian astronomer Anthony Wesley looked over his photos of Jupiter, he was amazed to learn that the cloud stripe had disappeared. The Great Red Spot really stood out, mainly because it's incredibly large in itself. It can easily fit two Earths in its diameter, and researchers estimate that the storm has been going on for at least a few centuries. There is no telling when it ends, however, but the disappearance of the Southern Equatorial Belt is proof that such formations can indeed cease to exist. Another result of Jupiter's “transformation” is the fact that the Northern Equatorial Belt now also stands out from the background.

 

“Jupiter with only one belt is almost like seeing Saturn when its rings are edge-on and invisible for a time – it just doesn't look right,” wrote on his blog Bob King, who is a skywatcher. Truth be told, all amateur astronomers begin by looking at our solar system's gas giants, and also at the smaller, inner planets. Seeing such remarkable changes on celestial bodies that have looked the same for centuries is indeed an event that takes some getting used to.

 

The disappearance of the cloud feature shouldn't have come as a surprise to astronomers, however. Since 2008, measurements have shown that most spot-like storm features, including the GRS, were shrinking. Experts also identified lower levels of activity in the Southern Equatorial Belt, which also appeared to be diminishing in size. This is not the first instance in which the gas giant shows some anomalous weather patterns. Given the fact that we've only been studying the planet in such close detail for less than a century, it stands to reason that we still don't know how to make sense of a lot of phenomena taking place on the surface.

These critters ate it.

Link