Outer Space

[Ninja]

It’s an incredible thing to think about, how small and insignificant we are on his Planet while there are endless possibilities out there in space. Outer space is so enormous that putting the sheer size of it into words is overwhelming.

One thing about space that sparks my interest, and my fear are black holes. Super massive holes in space with gravitational pulls so great that not even light itself cannot escape it. How terrifying is that?

Also, to get a grasp of how big outer space is, take a look at this video, which is basically the scale of the universe.

https://youtu.be/uaGEjrADGPA

What about you guys? What is something that has intrigued you about outer space? What would you want to know if you could get a definitive answer?

 

[Castle]

Fascinating to think about, for certain. But once you get there I can't imagine it's all it's cracked up to be. It's lots and lots of empty... space. And a whole lot of barren rocks peppered here and there. Chances are most of those rocks don't have much of anything of interest worth seeing. The vast majority of them won't have a single microbial cell. The best you can expect is some fascinating geology and amazing weather patterns. So we can pretty much forget about the prospect of advanced intelligent spacefarring species and intergalactic cultures. If anything like that were to exist, we'd almost certainly know by now. We've been transmitting so many signals from this planet for so long we look like a galactic signal flare. Anyone who's looking knows we're here. And our own ability to detect activity in the distant verse has become so advanced it is unlikely that alien starships zipping around or similar radio wave activity as our own has escaped our notice. Unless the MiB are holding out on us.

While it's quite possible that we are not alone in the galaxy, it is highly improbable for there to be a species as advanced as our own elsewhere in the milky way or for life to exist to the extent of bounty and diversity as it does on earth.

I wouldn't worry too much about black holes. They're easy enough to avoid

 

[Dio]

They don't really know how truly big the universe is beyond the observable bits Everything beyond is just guesswork.

I do like black holes and am intrigued by them. I want to know what happens to material that has fallen I and if the data is completely destroyed or not.

 

[Spirit]

Black holes are scary beasts but i'm more fearful of quasar beams, theyre god damn laser stars of death.

 

[Link2485]

Don't forget gamma ray bursts. those are pretty darn scary to. I have always loved outer space since I was a kid. Most of the stars we see in the night sky are now actually dead most likely. but they are so far away their light is just now getting to us. also outer space is just that. space. stars are great distances from one another, and even the planets in our solar system are.

 

[YIGAhim]

Oh god the idea of Space blows my mind even more than theoretical math!

 

[Castle]

After playing Prey, I acquired something of a brief fascination with early space flight. At the time it wasn't really common knowledge that space beyond our planet was probably very desolate and barren. As far as most anyone was concerned there was all sorts of activity going on up there. This idea that we were brushing our finger tips on the edges of a whole new frontier was exhilarating!

alas, we were not to find the abundance of strange new cultures such as were encountered when explorers hopped continents on terra firma. But for a time that tantalizing (and terrifying!) possibility did exist.

 

[Owly]

Nebulas, the universe's interstellar nurseries, the places where stars are born. They are just so mesmerizing with all of their colors and it would be so cool to just float around inside of one. I guess I can only dream...

 

[Aewon]

alas, we were not to find the abundance of strange new cultures such as were encountered when explorers hopped continents on terra firma. But for a time that tantalizing (and terrifying!) possibility did exist.

When we first started space exploration Mars was the only planet we expected to find life on. Now Mars, Venus (the clouds), Europa, Enceladus and Titan may all be potential candidates. Besides, we know of more than a thousand exoplanets. Back in the 50s/60s we didn't know of any planet beyond our Solar System. Sorry for posting in such an old topic. This just had to be said.

 

[alexx]

In order to be a theory something needs to be backed up by observations, data and/or maths. Any "crazy theory" that people dream up isn't actually a theory, it's just a random guess.

 

[andyz]

We have some great tech to use in space exploration that the general public doesn’t even know or understand yet. The problem is the whole world lives in a financial bubble that could pop at any time.This is a side effect of a Global Economy. I'm writing an essay about new planets discoveries right now. It is really interesting topic for essay research. Unfortunately I'm not good at writing and I'm thinking of using some help of writing service here https://essaypro.com/write-my-essay.html to finish it without any grammar and spelling errors. Hope I'll finish my essy in the near time.

 

[Hero of Pizza Time]

It’s an incredible thing to think about, how small and insignificant we are on his Planet while there are endless possibilities out there in space. Outer space is so enormous that putting the sheer size of it into words is overwhelming.

One thing about space that sparks my interest, and my fear are black holes. Super massive holes in space with gravitational pulls so great that not even light itself cannot escape it. How terrifying is that?

Also, to get a grasp of how big outer space is, take a look at this video, which is basically the scale of the universe.

https://youtu.be/uaGEjrADGPA

What about you guys? What is something that has intrigued you about outer space? What would you want to know if you could get a definitive answer?

It's an interesting subject and there are a lot of things to learn about the universe. But with great interest comes some fear. After all, what will happen after the heat death of the universe (when the universe becomes so big that the energy will become spread out so much that each area will have a very minimal amount, as energy cannot be created or destroyed)? Will life and any kind of change just cease to exist? Or even sooner would come the expansion of our sun, burning Earth's surface. What will happen to humans and all of the other species on Earth?

Still though, this is ultimately why we are curious beings. We learn to find solutions, and I'm sure that to each of these problems I mentioned, there is a solution and I am confident that humanity and all other species will go on for as long as they need and want to. I could bring religion in here right now, but I like to keep mine safe at my place of worship and home.

 

[Lilith2]

There are some considerations necessary for dealing with much of what has been posited thus far in this thread. Since the days of Egypt, the Babylonian astronomers, the Almagest of Ptolemy, and innumerable other efforts by man to chart and understand the heavens, an interest in the 'outer space' beyond the known heavenly spheres has been foremost among his concerns. Indeed, with the advent of telescopes and the ability to glimpse distant worlds, interest has only risen in exploring this sidereal realm. And yet, even the vastness of space, and the seemingly infinite cosmic expanse is but a mere plane of material existence. We may go in search of distant worlds, explore other galaxies and cosmic space, and still, no matter how far we go, never grasp the slightest vestige of an actual "outer" space. Naturally, man sees the cosmos from the vantage point of terra firma, and thus the solar system to him is a grand celestial dance of the spheres; in turn the larger cosmos is a grand movement, a dance of the "Spheres within spheres [...]"" (Ezekiel). But even setting aside such cosmogony for a moment, there can never be a true discovery of any "out there" or "beyond" in sheer topographical exegesis of the material plane, no matter how far from Earth.

Therefore, the intrigue of the universe, and its fate and such eschatological considerations ultimately slip from the foundation they feign root in, as without the consideration of the endless, formless invisible decanting into the vase of the visible, material, such rumination is futile and nothing can come of it. The Egyptians considered man's destiny to be in the stars, and were dedicated to transmuting the body and soul of man into the great above, the stars hung in the heavens; this was great working of the below.

"As long as science confines its observations to physical conditions and proceeds, Aristotle-like, it certainly cannot fail. But notwithstanding that the world of matter is boundless for us, it still is finite; and thus materialism will turn forever in this vitiated circle, unable to soar higher than the circumference will permit." (Blavatsky, Isis Unveiled).

 

[TheGreatCthulhu]

I'm actually studying to become an astrophysicist, so obviously space intrigues me greatly.

There's actually a surprising number of things we simply don't know about space.

How about this?

Einstein's equation for general relativity still has a known contradiction in it, unless we specifically know how to quantize space-time (we don't), or we "cheat" by replacing a quantum mechanical operator in one side of the equation and put in the expected value. What this is is semi-classical gravity.

Problem is, it works way too well, almost suspiciously well. So much so, it feels like a cop-out.

Here's the math of which I'm speaking:



If we look closely on the right hand side of the equation, we see that T has a hat over it. That's to indicate it as a quantum mechanical operator, since we know matter is quantized, as per quantum mechanics, we have to put the hat over the T.

Problem is, quantum mechanical operators are weird. Unlike with normal multiplication, where you can put the numbers in any order, this doesn't work with quantum mechanical operators.

For example this:



Is not the same thing as this:



Because of the nature of quantum physics, the equation, as it currently stands, might as well say, "Some apples = some oranges." Which is an absurdity.

Like I said, we can cheat and swap out the quantum mechanical operator for the expected value to get this:



"Why not put hats on the operators on the left hand side of the equation?"

Well, we would.... If we knew how spacetime was quantized. And we do not.

So, we're stuck. Either we find out how spacetime is quantized, or we cop-out and use semi-classical gravity.

So, despite the fact that physics can explain A LOT about the universe, problems like this do crop up. What makes this matter even more complicated is that we can't just discard either relativity or quantum mechanics, as they have demonstrated their veracity on multiple occasions.

Problems like this are exciting for scientists, because they want to seek the solution to the problem. No doubt, when (not if) we find the solution to the problem, there will be a whole new field of science.

 

[derickbates]

Hello, thanks for this interesting thread. you are totally right science and technology are connected