Are we alone? New study suggests if there ever was intelligent alien life ... it's extinct
- 8 years ago
ROCHESTER, NEW YORK — Astronomers and scientists have long wondered whether there is life in the universe outside of Earth, and, if so, is it civilized?
Astronomer Frank Drake proposed in 1961 what is now known as the Drake Equation. The equation is used to estimate the number of active, communicative extraterrestrial civilizations in the Milky Way galaxy. While it doesn't exactly pinpoint the number of life in space, it does summarize the main concepts which scientists must contemplate when considering the question of other radio-communicative life.
A new paper released in "Astrobiology," suggests a way to simplify the equation taking in new information discovered by NASA's Kepler telescope. Kepler has, since the 1990s, discovered a number of exoplanets, planets that are similar to Earth and could potentially sustain life as we know it.
According to the study, life was plentiful but is now most likely extinct. It shows that unless the odds of advanced life evolving on a habitable planet are astonishingly low, then humankind is not the universe's first technological or advanced civilization.
In the new research, scientists offer a new equation to address a slightly different question: What is the number of advanced civilizations likely to have developed over the history of the observable universe?
"The universe is more than 13 billion years old," said coauthor, Woodruff Sullivan of the astronomy department and astrobiology program at the University of Washington. "That means that even if there have been a thousand civilizations in our own galaxy, if they live only as long as we have been around — roughly 10 thousand years — then all of them are likely already extinct. And others won't evolve until we are long gone."
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Astronomer Frank Drake proposed in 1961 what is now known as the Drake Equation. The equation is used to estimate the number of active, communicative extraterrestrial civilizations in the Milky Way galaxy. While it doesn't exactly pinpoint the number of life in space, it does summarize the main concepts which scientists must contemplate when considering the question of other radio-communicative life.
A new paper released in "Astrobiology," suggests a way to simplify the equation taking in new information discovered by NASA's Kepler telescope. Kepler has, since the 1990s, discovered a number of exoplanets, planets that are similar to Earth and could potentially sustain life as we know it.
According to the study, life was plentiful but is now most likely extinct. It shows that unless the odds of advanced life evolving on a habitable planet are astonishingly low, then humankind is not the universe's first technological or advanced civilization.
In the new research, scientists offer a new equation to address a slightly different question: What is the number of advanced civilizations likely to have developed over the history of the observable universe?
"The universe is more than 13 billion years old," said coauthor, Woodruff Sullivan of the astronomy department and astrobiology program at the University of Washington. "That means that even if there have been a thousand civilizations in our own galaxy, if they live only as long as we have been around — roughly 10 thousand years — then all of them are likely already extinct. And others won't evolve until we are long gone."
-------------------------------------------------------------
Welcome to TomoNews, where we animate the most entertaining news on the internets. Come here for an animated look at viral headlines, US news, celebrity gossip, salacious scandals, dumb criminals and much more! Subscribe now for daily news animations that will knock your socks off.
Visit our official website for all the latest, uncensored videos: http://us.tomonews.net
Check out our Android app: http://bit.ly/1rddhCj
Check out our iOS app: http://bit.ly/1gO3z1f
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Instagram @tomonewsus http://instagram.com/tomonewsus