Wow! How small we really are

[Polar Bear]

Impressive though VY Canis Majoris certainly is, it is a case of size doesn't matter when it comes to life. Indeed the opposite is true. Looking in the other direction the inner workings of the cell as we are finding out are a rather complex subset of the Universe.

I have been reading on the argument for Intelligent Design which has certainly made me think about our place in the Universe and whether Darwin's theories should be examined more. And no I am not religious in the 'normal' sense of the word.

[Joguj]

Very interesting stuff. 'the known universe by amnh' highlights something which I was sort of aware of but not given too much thought and that is the extent of our radio signal sphere since we first started broadcasting. That is probably the most humbling point of the whole video for me, it's also a little depressing to get a scale for our attempts to travel the galaxy so far.

[ggreene1]

I think images like that really help put our personal significance into perspective.

Some people believe we are so significant we deserve some form of after life.

Others believe we are so insignificant it's depressing and they feel they have little to live for.

This image makes me think we are all extremely significant to all those in our lives and we should make a good effort to make those who deserve to be happy, happy! Universally, yeah, we are nothing! But we are still hugely significant, we just need a bit of perspective on it! :-)

Bit deep for a Monday morning?? :-P

Well said Emperor, Well said...

[Naemeth]

Bacteria seems to live just about anywhere on our planet... Some are so resistant to radiation it's unbelievable. I wouldn't doubt that they could possibly withstand the radiation on Mars. They're called Deinococcus Radiodurans.

Here is an interesting article on Wiki about them. Their abilities make have developed as an adaptation to prolonged desiccation, otherwise ???

Deinococcus radiodurans - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Far enough down, surely there would be heat radiating from Mars' core, so they very well could survive. Further up where it's colder, similar bacteria may be frozen.

That is of course assuming Mars's core is producing heat, which I don't know if it is or not..

EDIT: It's not, such a shame :/.

How about (in order to terraform Mars), we heat up the core directly, no idea how, but surely it would be possible?

[Bluenosebatty]

all the evidence shows at this time is that we are alone

...this thought scares the life out of me knowing how big the mapped universe is,

What scares me more is if that was to be true how its crazy just we take humans and everyday life for granted! Yet we see materials like gold and diamond to be worth much more and important in some countries,

Astronomy should be a everyday subject in schools it may help children understand how fragile, and precious life really is and give them a different view on everyday life,

[Joguj]

all the evidence shows at this time is that we are alone

...this thought scares the life out of me knowing how big the mapped universe is,

What scares me more is if that was to be true how its crazy just we take humans and everyday life for granted! Yet we see materials like gold and diamond to be worth much more and important in some countries,

Astronomy should be a everyday subject in schools it may help children understand how fragile, and precious life really is and give them a different view on everyday life,

Lack of evidence doesn't imply we are alone given the massive difficulty in detecting life. I tend towards the facts of number of galaxies and stars in those galaxies and the fact that planetary systems are probably a 'normal' occurrence. The odds are massively stacked in favour of other life, there's a formula somewhere for an estimation.

[pajr777]

The odds are massively stacked in favour of other life, there's a formula somewhere for an estimation.

Drake equation - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia