"My God, its full of stars!"

im saying we look in our own backyard first, physicists believe that there are now more planets in our own galaxy then there are stars. there could be an unfathomable number of planets out in the cosmos and it just impossible for people to believe that we are alone, whether they are intelligent or not im fully convinced that we are not alone in the cosmos

with that ill leave you with some carl sagan

www.youtube.com...

great post S+F

Arthur C. Clarke, co-writer with Stanley Kubrick of “2001: A Space Odyssey”, said:

“Two possibilities exist: either we are alone in the Universe or we are not.
Both are equally terrifying”

Originally posted by jephers0nWe are but a parasite on the back of the universe.

speak for yourself, I don't class me and my kin as "parasites"- what a cracking world view you have and you have the cheek to berate the religious

and, on the other hand, presuming human beings are the only "intelligent beings"
in the Universe - or even in this Galaxy - is sheer arrogance and presumptuousness.

and, as some of us know, there exist a Secret Space Program...

of which, Richard Dolan makes a great Presentation here:
Amsterdam, April 2011

reply to post by artistpoet


There is no denying what you have posted, we are part of the whole in ways difficult to explain, everything is connected by the resonances of growth and development over time, but lets get this straight, "out there" as "in here" things happen, for instance, earthquakes, cosmic ray storms, photon discharges from supernovas, heart attacks, small pox, black holes, lions, sheep, microbes, humans, suns , brown dwarves, etc etc, you get the point, all matter is destined to one thing its TRANSFORMATION, meaning in most cases its decay and death so that the process can begin and renew in an extended cycle of unknown proportions.

Everything dies so that other things can be born, that's all there is, we can embellish and portray the mechanisms in any way we want, they are not the truth in any way, but our own interpretations, fact is, the universe is as mysterious and amazing as is, without an extra layer of complication.

The forces out there are not human, not do they operate by human terms, its like if the fire could understand that sometimes it nourishes and sometimes it destroys.
things ARE arranged by inhuman hands, having glimpses of eternity can help us understand how futile most of our efforts really are, struggling where there is no one to struggle with but ourselves, we are part of it all, and unarguably we can be wiped out without notice, if you don't believe me ask the dinosaurs, or Ophiuchus, what those "pictures" tell me is that we know nothing like the fire burning inside!

cheers!

reply to post by TheOneEyedProphet


Yes I do understand what you are saying - My perspective is somewhat different.
I am not religous but do believe in life after death - it is obvious in the way the Cosmos recycles that it has found a way of being self perpetuating - stars may come and stars may go and as a once mighty star explodes so it seeds new stars - and what of the mystery of the nature of such stars - so many types of stars of different age and potential. What appears dead to us is often quite the opposite - White Dwarf stars, pulsars etc.
The mystery of Black Holes where matter as we know it is supposedly condensed to a point of singularirty - Yet Black Holes are not the creatures of our imagination sucking all in to nought for Black Holes also expel material which can form into Galaxies. In this way they are like inter dimensional portals - within the heart of stars lays such a potential. Science concentrates on matter or substance yet the Human Soul can not be measured by such means - This is where my point of view differs.

Planets like Earth are so very rare, no matter how big the universe.
Rare Earth Hypothesis. We're just very lucky, here on Earth.

Originally posted by soulwaxer

Originally posted by Helmkat
reply to post by soulwaxer

 

Maybe they visit us because they visit everyone...

Perhaps the world of science reaches an end. At some point you know all that you can know. Maybe at that point the only thing to do is visit other worlds and see new art, new struggles and enjoy the universe through the eyes of a primitive. Maybe the more advanced we get, the more like everyone else we become. Boring.

edit on 23-1-2012 by Helmkat because: where did that a come from?

I started writing a response to what you wrote, but in doing so, I realized you have a very interesting point. I just wish I could wrap my head around it... There is definitely something there though. Thanks!

You are welcome, its just speculation of course.

Imagine a universe filled with omnipotent beings (to us) with nothing to do. To such beings minor nuances in culture, philosphy or art might mean eveything. When people are new they have outlandish ideas as to their place in the cosmos. Monitoring a new civilzation and learning their stories, collecting native artworks (the more "out there the better) would be a way to pass the countless millenia. However as a culture learns the ways of science and drops all the craziness they become like everyone else. Right now we can only imagine how cool it would be to meet a people from the stars, However while children find adult conversation to be endlessly facinating, the adults themselves may be bored to tears and find the antics of children much more endearing.

For anyone interested in the enormity of space you should search for Galactic Super Clusters, there are a few we are vaguely aware off and essentialy forming what appears to be enormous wall like super structures in space.

We are, by the way, part of the Virgo Supercluster, our local group contains at least 40 galaxies lol, and thats local, some contain thousands.

Walls, filaments and voids

en.wikipedia.org...-scale_structure

we are in the science forum, i don't see why there are religious people in here trying to belittle the wonder of the universe. go back to the mysterious subject matter forum.

reply to post by kingofmd


That's somewhat hypocritical isn't it? You believe that something is true too, despite the evidence. There is no proof whatsoever that god exists. What is quite evident is man's stupidity to simply have blind faith in a book that was written by another man or group of men (Scientology for a good recent example).

I don't know if life exists elsewhere nobody does but I think that logically it should. Even the Vatican are open to the possibility. I don't know if god exists either but I'm not about to claim it doesn't simply because I have no evidence. All we can do is use our experience and then apply it to a problem and go look for evidence. Do you look at a drop of pond water and say "Well I can't see life in there so I believe there is none and I'm not going to bother looking any closer"? No, you go find a microscope and look closer. We know there's a good chance that there's some kind of microscopic life form in that drop of water because we've looked very closely lots of times and proven it.
Apply this logic when you look at the stars. It seems extremely unlikely we're the only ones.

reply to post by addygrace


ive heard of the Rare Earth hypothesis before but i don't think it really holds and merit anymore because if the Rare Earth hypothesis has any merit that would also mean the Drake Equation should hold merit in the scientific community saying that there could be anywhere from billions to absolutely none, we could be the only ones but i don't think we are

en.wikipedia.org...

en.wikipedia.org...

Originally posted by webpirate
Scientists just last week said every single star in our solar system had at least 1 planet circling it. I assume the same is true for this system too.

How can you look at those images and not believe in life somewhere other than Earth?

Great pics!

There is only one star in our solar system, I think you mean "every single star in our galaxy"

Originally posted by Nite_wing
I wonder if there any ET's on ATS?

I'm not too sure, but there was someone on here a few years ago that claimed to be from the future!!

Originally posted by addygrace
Planets like Earth are so very rare, no matter how big the universe.
Rare Earth Hypothesis. We're just very lucky, here on Earth.

The rare Earth concept is mankind's latest attempt to make ourselves more important than we are. We long for the conceit that we are the only kids on the block, that gods created us in their image, that they placed wandering stars on crystal spheres to orbit us, and placed the animals at our feet as toys for our play.
Every time we discover how insignificant we are, someone attempts to make a pedestal for us to stand upon.

Yet the human species does not need to be fluffed up to be important- we are important because we are the only HUMANS you'll ever find in this vast universe. No matter what other kinds of life there is...we are the only planet with this particular species. How impressive it is to be so unique! How wonderful to live in such a vast and inspiring Cosmos!

To me, it all makes sense if we consider that what we can see in this universe is not the creation of God, but rather the creation of God's creation. There may be an original creator, but what small portion we see is simply made by something or someone who in turn was created and so on and so forth until you reach the prime creator.

Thanks for the pictures and insight. Much appreciated, and if humans would focus more on topics like this we could evolve so much faster than our current self-destructive cycle.

Originally posted by xxblackoctoberxx
"...forget jesus. The stars died so you could be here today.""

Haha, I like that. We basically are star stuff like Carl Sagan said and Jesus is the son/sun of God. It had me thinking, but what if the sum total of all physical matter and laws in this universe is "God" and each star is God's son/sun. So indeed Jesus (a star) did die so we could be here today.

OMG, the Bible does contain science! lol

Originally posted by HeywoodFloyd
and, on the other hand, presuming human beings are the only "intelligent beings"
in the Universe - or even in this Galaxy - is sheer arrogance and presumptuousness.

and, as some of us know, there exist a Secret Space Program...

of which, Richard Dolan makes a great Presentation here:
Amsterdam, April 2011

Thanks for posting just finished watching - well worth the time -
Still absorbing the info given as I have other info to interface it with
Thanks again

Originally posted by randomname
you can't look at these pictures and not believe in God.

sorry.

i look at those pictures and thats EXACTLY why I don't believe in god.

the scale of the universe, the amount of stars and the time scales involved are what made me not believe in any god in the first place.

those images are not only stunning but truly mind blowing.

Originally posted by ButterCookie

Originally posted by randomname
you can't look at these pictures and not believe in God.

Actually, its quite the opposite.

How can a person think that the same thing that created all the stars, galaxies, etc. be the same person that cannot heal the sick, stop wars, and defeat the 'devil'?

edit on 22-1-2012 by ButterCookie because: (no reason given)

One word - Brilliant!