200 billion trillion and counting
How big IS this place?
This is not a lesson in astronomy or astrophysics or even astrology.
For anyone interested in a glimpse of what's out there, Neil deGrasse Tyson wrote some books that may tickle your fancy; Astrophysics for People in a Hurry and Merlin's Tour of the Universe are my two favorites.
The best minds in science have been studying the heavens (small "h") for centuries and as our tools of exploration have developed, our discoveries have expanded, along with what is called the observable universe.
Evan as cosmological expansion continues, our reach across the expanse of space and time has kept pace. Between Earthbound and space-based telescopes, we are able to detect light and radiation that has found its way to us after journeys of billions of years.
Ever notice that all of the telescopes, microwaves and listening devices probing the universe for signs of intelligent life are pointing AWAY from Earth?
Earth, a planet now on the endangered species list is part of a solar or planetary system revolving around a star we call the Sun. Our Sun is one of about 100 billion stars in a galaxy we call the Milky Way.
Voyager I, travelling at about 38,000 MPH, was launched in 1977 and is about 15 billion miles from Earth, but still inside the Milky Way.
It takes light from Voyager about a day to reach Earth.
The obvious implication is that with 100 billion suns in our galaxy, there is about 100 billion chances that there is a planet out there not too dissimilar from our own. Whether or not those at the apex of creatures living on those planets are as deeply flawed as those down here on Earth is a matter of speculation.
Here's where it gets a little wonky. Best guess estimates are that there are somewhere between 350 billion and ONE TRILLION galaxies in the universe. The current number scientists are working with in regards to the number of stars in the universe is 200 billion trillion. That's one trillion, 200 billion times. Talk about a Starry Night!
What, exactly does all this mean? Not a lot, but it's something to think about.
What we call recorded history goes back about 5,000 years to the time when writing systems were born in ancient Mesopotamia. Man's history goes back much further though, and has revealed itself through archaeological evidence.
It's pretty clear that man has been looking skyward in awe for eons and ascribing the unknown to imaginary gods and goddesses. Thunder, volcanoes, earth quakes and shooting stars were all attributed to the moods of this god or that and, for those who had no way to understand the world around them, that was a reasonable thing to do.
We've only known that Earth revolves around the Sun - and not vice versa - for less than 500 years and a guy named Nicolas Copernicus was imprisoned for even suggesting it. Superstition dies hard.
There's over 3,000 high schools in Texas and every Friday night during the season, there's 3,000 football teams on their knees in locker rooms across Texas asking God to grant them victory on the gridiron. They may think that God is as enthusiastic about football as is their coach and that he has a hand in the victories of 1,500 football teams each Friday night.
Considering the possibility of 200 billion trillion planets like Earth out there, would those young ballers be devastated to find out that God has no interest in their football games? Or Texas? Or America? Or Earth, for that matter?
Would their heads literally explode thinking about God creating 200 billion trillion Earths in just six days?
Is science becoming too big an obstacle to superstition?
Very cool post. It is interesting to think about this: our sun sits in a 'local bubble' with other stars that reside within a local collection of 'interstellar gas.' The gas and debris between our local starts are believed to be from previous supernova. The sun itself is believed to have formed from these same type of gasses and leftovers. The point is, there is a temporal component to all of this. What we see today (locally) is the 2nd, 3rd, or nth iteration of star and planet formation. It is likely that other 'solar systems' existed in this same little part of our galaxy long before this one!!! It increases the probabilities of life dramatically. It's not just that life could exist elsewhere, but that it would have had many chances over the evolution of the visible universe. It is hard to imagine that life wouldn't have formed elsewhere, at some point.