Unexamined star clusters could be home to advanced extra-terrestrial life, scientists say

This is a very cool news. So here's the deal:



Many astronomers have presumed that planets in star clusters would have been thrown out into space — but they might actually have been perfect for supporting life, according to new research, because people could have travelled between planets much more easily.

We might have been looking for aliens in the wrong place, and they could be hiding out in unexamined star clusters, scientists have said.Old bunches of stars known as globular clusters could be hiding planets capable of supporting extra-terrestrial life, according to a new study.

Scientists have long thought that such areas of space are so tightly packed that they would have flung any planets out into space. But the fact that there are so many stars might actually have helped life flourish there, according to a new study reported in Nature.

Because there are lots of planetary systems close to each other, any civilisations would have been able to spread out relatively easy and could have gone on to live for billions of years, according to the study. That would likely mean that they had reached levels of complexity enough to communicate with us.

“If there is an advanced society in an environment like that, it could set up outposts relatively easily, because we’re dealing with distances that are so much shorter,” theoretical astrophysicist Rosanne Di Stefano told Nature News.

The Milky Way has about 150 globular clusters, which are made up of some of the oldest known stars. But they have gone mostly neglected, and scientists have only been able to find one planet there — which is not likely to harbour life — and attempts to find more have been unsuccessful.

According to Rosanne Di Stefano of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, said in globular clusters 100-light-years away, there could be more advanced and complex aliens as these clusters date back to 10 billion years ago.

Presenting a paper at the 227th meeting of the American Astronomical Society. Di Stefano said the clusters date back to the early life of the Milky Way, 10 billion years ago compared to the Universe which is 13.7 billion years old. Despite age-related issues, he has argued that it also provided ample time for civilizations to evolve and become complex.

The clusters are densely packed groups of stars which may make excellent cradles for complex space-traveling life to evolve, he said brushing aside studies which said in the past that these environments may be too harsh for life.

Although massive gas worlds tend to orbit stars, smaller rocky worlds similar to Earth can be found around stars with varying amounts of the heavy material. "It’s premature to say there are no planets in globular clusters," Ray said. As life on Earth is thought to have evolved after about 3.5 billion years, a 10-billion-year-old planet would give life time to not only bloom, but evolve into intelligent and technologically advanced beings. Life on these ancient worlds would have had ample time to become a spacefaring species.

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This is a pretty cool news. But i personally don't think we should be contacting advanced species. We do not know if they could make harm to us or even worse.

I wonder how many references to columbus and the red Indians will be in this thread.

Nice find OP.

a reply to: Frocharocha

I thought star 'clusters' were the remnants of galaxies absorbed by our "Milky Way" Galaxy, made up primarily of a black hole stripped of most of its stars?

No? Either way seems there'd be too much radiation in places like that.

"My God, its filled with stars".

Image

a reply to: Frocharocha

A long time ago, in a star cluster far far away...

I read this the other day, really good read. It's speculation at best but it also makes the most logical sense considering how star clusters are really damn old and have had a greater amount of time to develop life.

Thanks for posting!

S&F

-Ninja

a reply to: Frocharocha

Here is another thread on this same story: www.abovetopsecret.com...

a reply to: Frocharocha

The important thing to note here is that it now become or becoming, OK for scientists to talk about alien life. From whom did approval for this come and when did it come?

Does this show that disclosure has been rolling out for years despite all the denial from TPTB.

Does this disclosure coming from scientists, carry with it a message that says "we believe in alien life now so therefore its OK for you to believe in it to." Is that why the disclosure is coming from scientists?

originally posted by: Azureblue
a reply to: Frocharocha

The important thing to note here is that it now become or becoming, OK for scientists to talk about alien life. From whom did approval for this come and when did it come?

Does this show that disclosure has been rolling out for years despite all the denial from TPTB.

What denial? Scientists, in general, have always accepted that there may be extraterrestrial life and even intelligent spacefaring civilisations. It's always been ok for scientists to talk about alien life. Stop deluding yourself.


~~~


Now for the subject of this thread... I don't understand how, on the one hand, they suppose that planets in globular clusters are at risk of being ejected into cold dark space (thus preventing a complex civilization developing), and on the other hand they suppose that the relative proximity of nearby systems will help such civilizations expand from system to system. You can't have both situations. Either the planets get ejected and spacefaring civilisations never get a chance to develop, or the planets stay put and the civilisations happily colonise them.

originally posted by: Azureblue
a reply to: Frocharocha
The important thing to note here is that it now become or becoming, OK for scientists to talk about alien life.

When was it not okay for scientists to talk about alien life?

From whom did approval for this come and when did it come?

What approval?

Does this show that disclosure has been rolling out for years...

No.
[Quote]...despite all the denial from TPTB.
Please provide a source for 'TPTB' denying anything related to this topic.

Does this disclosure coming from scientists, carry with it a message that says "we believe in alien life now so therefore its OK for you to believe in it to."

No, because this is neither 'disclosure' nor is it a 'message'.

Is that why the disclosure is coming from scientists?

No such thing is happening outside of your imagination.

a reply to: Frocharocha

That's a great picture of a serious star cluster , imagine being on a planet in there although I'm not sure if complex life would have time to get a foothold as according to ESA supernova may be quite common , given the close proximity of the stars that would surely be bad news for surface dwellers.

The Arches cluster is so dense that in a region with a radius equal to the distance between the Sun and its nearest star there would be over 100 000 stars!

At least 150 stars within the cluster are among the brightest ever discovered in the the Milky Way. These stars are so bright and massive, that they will burn their fuel within a short time, on a cosmological scale, just a few million years, and die in spectacular supernova explosions. Due to the short lifetime of the stars in the cluster, the gas between the stars contains an unusually high amount of heavier elements, which were produced by earlier generations of stars.
www.spacetelescope.org...

Not saying there couldn't be intelligent life in there but I would have thought the stellar activity would be a limiting factor.

originally posted by: gortex
The Arches cluster is so dense that in a region with a radius equal to the distance between the Sun and its nearest star there would be over 100 000 stars!

At least 150 stars within the cluster are among the brightest ever discovered in the the Milky Way.

Holy Molly! I've always wondered what the night sky would look like on a planet located within such a cluster. It would probably be almost as bright there as it is on Earth in full moonlight, or even brighter.

It would be cool if someone with good knowledge of programs like Celestia or Stellarium created an alternate "solar system" located in such a cluster, so that we could see the simulated view for ourselves.

originally posted by: wildespace

originally posted by: Azureblue
a reply to: Frocharocha

The important thing to note here is that it now become or becoming, OK for scientists to talk about alien life. From whom did approval for this come and when did it come?

Does this show that disclosure has been rolling out for years despite all the denial from TPTB.

What denial? Scientists, in general, have always accepted that there may be extraterrestrial life and even intelligent spacefaring civilisations. It's always been ok for scientists to talk about alien life. Stop deluding yourself.


~~~


Now for the subject of this thread... I don't understand how, on the one hand, they suppose that planets in globular clusters are at risk of being ejected into cold dark space (thus preventing a complex civilization developing), and on the other hand they suppose that the relative proximity of nearby systems will help such civilizations expand from system to system. You can't have both situations. Either the planets get ejected and spacefaring civilisations never get a chance to develop, or the planets stay put and the civilisations happily colonise them.

It's always been ok for scientists to talk about alien life. Stop deluding yourself

This reads and sounds like the classic tactic. start saying/doing something that was previously banned then when someone notices that what is being said was not said before, just claim they have always been saying/doing it. Makes it appear old hat. Seems to work most times too I might say.

I've been interested in UFOs for decades and its only recently its being conceded by scientists that other intelligent life might exist in the world. No doubt many have been saying it privately but its only in recent years that it come out of the wardrobe.

originally posted by: AdmireTheDistance

originally posted by: Azureblue
a reply to: Frocharocha
The important thing to note here is that it now become or becoming, OK for scientists to talk about alien life.

When was it not okay for scientists to talk about alien life?

From whom did approval for this come and when did it come?

What approval?

Does this show that disclosure has been rolling out for years...

No.
[Quote]...despite all the denial from TPTB.

Please provide a source for 'TPTB' denying anything related to this topic.

Does this disclosure coming from scientists, carry with it a message that says "we believe in alien life now so therefore its OK for you to believe in it to."

No, because this is neither 'disclosure' nor is it a 'message'.

Is that why the disclosure is coming from scientists?

No such thing is happening outside of your imagination.

No such thing is happening outside of your imagination.

Is that imagination or is it experience?

Sorry guys. Gonna have to close this one and redirect your thoughts to the earlier thread.

Study: Star clusters might host intelligent civilizations

Thread closed