Comet Lovejoy

[Neferti]

Interesting.


http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/ ... r-sun.html

[Super Nova]

Thanks Nef.

I am going to look out for it. If it can be seen in Australia and Japan I should be able to see it here.

[Neferti]

Spotted by an Australian, Terry Lovejoy! Well done LOVEJOY!


Oh ... did you read about the AFOs reported in the USA being the CIA involved about testing planes, thus the secrecy?

I do NOT believe in aliens ........ but stuff happens out there, such as I drew your attention to. Nothing alien beings about it. Normal stuff that happens ... Terry must drive his missus crazy (if he has one) ... out on the porch, endlessly looking through his Telescope ....... He should be proud (and so should she) he has a Comet named after him.

[Super Nova]

Yeah, well done Lovejoy.

I do believe in Extra-terrestrial aliens. however I do not believe any have ever visited Earth and definitely not recently (since humans have evolved).

The numbers make such a visit so improbable that it tends to zero probability.

[Neferti]

Aliens!!!

I have watched many History programs, whereby "they" wonder why people such as the Egyptians (and others else where in the World) could build such magnificent structures that have lasted for many, many centuries without out "knowledge" of (university) engineering and so forth.

There have been very clever people (male and female) throughout history. Nobody invents much these days ... they just "improve" what has already been invented, eons ago.

Anyway .........

Are we (collective we) so arrogant that we think people who lived many, many years ago were less intelligent than we are? They IMPLY that there must be an alien intelligence out there ... somewhere. Rubbish! Some people read too much Sci Fi fiction.

[Rorschach]

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news ... nal-chile/
http://www.astronomical.co.za/comet_lovejoy.html
http://astroblogger.blogspot.com.au/201 ... vejoy.html

[Neferti]

So what is happening to Comet Lovejoy?

Disappearing off the face of the Earth? I am shocked ........

It is a comet, not a space ship, lurking around trying to pick up the Political Animal Forum with their exceptional degree of scientific and intelligent posters. It is probably hovering over at at Monks to try and detect some sort of intelligent LIFE or at OzPol for ditto reasons.

[Super Nova]

Anyway .........

Are we (collective we) so arrogant that we think people who lived many, many years ago were less intelligent than we are? They IMPLY that there must be an alien intelligence out there ... somewhere. Rubbish! Some people read too much Sci Fi fiction.

Agree. Human intelligence has not evolved in the last 20,000 years. We are pretty much the same now as we were then. The evolution of society and the creation of language in the written form and mathematics has allowed combined with farming has allowed us to understand the world in great detail. Pass on knowledge that has accumulated from one generation to another and the human mind of individuals being allowed to focus on one are thus enabling individuals to specialise is our uniqueness.

Humanity used brains, organisation, tools and muscle to build the pyramids. No aliens required.

It's amazing what people will do for a king that they think is a god and earn a place in the afterlife when the basics for living are plentiful. The Nile river combined with advances in farming and social engineering was the real feat. the pyramid was just a by product.

However, we need to be careful what we wish for. Until we have advanced our technology for a few more thousand years I would not like to meet the Borg anytime soon.

[Super Nova]

How many alien civilizations in our galaxy?

The Drake Equation (named for Frank Drake, the originator of the equation) is a way to estimate how many intelligent extraterrestrial civilizations might inhabit our galaxy. Below is the Drake Equation:

N = R* x fs x fp x nE x fl x fi x fc x L
R* = average star formation ratefs = fraction of "suitable" stars capable of supporting a habitable planet.fp = fraction of suitable stars with planets.nE = average number of "Earth-like" planets.fl = average fraction of Earth-like planets with life.fi = average fraction of life-bearing planets evolving at least one intelligent species.fc = average fraction of planets with intelligent civilizations capable of interstellar communication.L = average lifetime that a civilization remains technologically active and will use radio communication.
These are the values based upon the most recent astronomical data:

Code: Select all

Parameter        Optimistic      Pessimistic
R*                               10                      3
fs                             0.02                 0.01 
fp                             0.75                  0.1 
nE                            0.01            0.00001 
fl                               1.0            0.00001 
fi                          0.0001          0.000001 
fc                              1.0                   0.1 
L               1,000,000,000        10,000,000
Total                         150                      0 

No idea how to display a table on this site---- sorry.

Alone in the Universe: Why Our Planet Is Unique
A most optimistic estimate for the number of intelligent civilizations in our galaxy is 150. This would mean that each intelligent civilization would be separated by an average of 2,000 light years. Such vast distances make contact unlikely and finding other advanced civilizations improbable. If these civilizations exist, they will not detect our radio signals for another 1900 years. How will they even know we are here? For information on how these results were calculated, see the appendix. John Gribbin's new book, Alone in the Universe: Why Our Planet Is Unique, concludes with this statement, "The reasons why we are here form a chain so improbable that the chance of any other technological civilization existing in the Milky Way Galaxy at the present time is vanishingly small. We are alone, and we better get used to the idea."

http://www.godandscience.org/apologetics/ufo.html

Ignore the god reference.