Galaxy has 'billions of Earths'

[DeclinetoState]

There could be one hundred billion Earth-like planets in our galaxy, a US conference has heard.<br>
Dr Alan Boss of the Carnegie Institution of Science said many of these worlds could be inhabited by simple lifeforms.<br>
He was speaking at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in Chicago.<br>
So far, telescopes have been able to detect just over 300 planets outside our Solar System.
More (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7891132.stm)

[Franko]

"Very few of these would be capable of supporting life, however. Most are gas giants like our Jupiter, and many orbit so close to their parent stars that any microbes would have to survive roasting temperatures.
But, based on the limited numbers of planets found so far, Dr Boss has estimated that each Sun-like star has on average one "Earth-like" planet."

Well, that proves it, LOL

[DoctorDoom]

"Earth-like" refers only to planets within the "habitable zones" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Habitable_zone) of stars.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/94/Habitable_zone-en.svg/491px-Habitable_zone-en.svg.png

Within the zones, liquid water can exist because of the level of energy received from the star. Without liquid water, life could not exist. A planet within a star's HZ does NOT automatically mean that it has any other conditions for life, such as the existence of water or an atmosphere.

[3leftsmakearight]

Scientists will say anything to get attention/funding. "There could be" other earth-like planets out there! No shit!

"But I think that most likely the nearby 'Earths' are going to be inhabited with things which are perhaps more common to what Earth was like three or four billion years ago." That means bacterial lifeforms." :rolleyes:

[PaulRevere]

When Star Trek Geeks grow up and become scientists ...

[Franko]

There's lots of conditions that must be met before we find life - that Captain Kirk is not dead but living on planet Zurg.

[DoctorDoom]

Nah, they expelled him from Zurg for hitting on the emperor's daughter. He is now copiloting a freighter with Harry Mudd in the Klargon Sector, an ignominious end to a distinguished Star Fleet career.

[DesertFox]

These guys need to quit citing "billions," or "billions and billions," and just go to saying "a lot" or "a whole lot" or "a whole PUKING lot."

[DeclinetoState]

These guys need to quit citing "billions," or "billions and billions," and just go to saying "a lot" or "a whole lot" or "a whole PUKING lot."
Maybe they're channeling Carl Sagan (or at least think they are).

[DoctorDoom]

The guesstimate is about 100 billion stars in this galaxy ([url=http://curious.astro.cornell.edu/question.php?number=31]source[/b]), so it's not impossible for there to be "billions of Earths", i.e., planets of roughly the same size and mass, but when all other factors are considered, the number of Earth-like planets is far less.

[Scott Conklin]

Either way you look at it their implication is at best misleading and at worst a deliberate lie. If you buy evolutionary theory then the odds of life developing on any given world are miniscule. In billions of "earth-like" planets you might have a couple dozen, and that's being generous.

If you believe in Creation then you've got a whole boatload of other issues. Would God create life on other planets? Why? When? Are we supposed to know? How? Is it even important?

Personally I suspect an infinite God wouldn't limit Himself to one world. Why should he? But I also suspect He wouldn't have a lot of interest in those different worlds having a lot of interaction. Just my .02.

[DeclinetoState]

If you believe in Creation then you've got a whole boatload of other issues. Would God create life on other planets? Why? When? Are we supposed to know? How? Is it even important?

Personally I suspect an infinite God wouldn't limit Himself to one world. Why should he? But I also suspect He wouldn't have a lot of interest in those different worlds having a lot of interaction. Just my .02.
If God created a lot of different worlds, did Jesus have to get crucified on each one? Or are at least some of the other worlds full of sinless creatures?

[Franko]

Going strictly by literal interpretations of scripture, the Earth is Man's abode; God created the Universe for himself to dwell. Christ died once for all, not multiple times; Adam and Eve's sin affected the whole universe - read Romans 8? I think - the reason everything is subject to the effects of thermodynamics is because of the curse (sin).

Thermodynamics laws are universal; as far as anyone knows, thermodynamics affects the whole universe. Isaac Asimov suggested (Smithsonian, June 1970 I think) in an article "In the game of energy and thermodynamics, you can't even break even" - that somewhere out there in non-observable time and space, maybe thermodynamics is not in effect. But there's never been anything shown to defeat thermodynamics (although some will suggest that it can be defeated, the examples fail under scrutiny).

One day aging and death will end; the curse will be removed. According to Revelation, God, who stretches out the universe like a tent, (at least a half dozen verses where it is said God stretched out the heavens, in Psalms for example) will one day roll up the fabric of space like a scroll and make a new heavens and earth that has inhabitants not subject to the effects of thermodynamics (the curse). If there is intelligent life on other planets in the current universe, they will be looking for a new place.

Life on other planets is still a possibility, I just have serious doubts, scripture based, that there's intelligent life, nothing on the level of humans, on any other planets currently.

Disagree - fine, but say if there are a dozen 'earth-like' planets that have intelligent life on them in this galaxy, there's still many problems with ever meeting up with them, or maybe they want nothing to do with us, or us with them. The travel distances are still a giant barrier. One can imagine some sci-fi scenario of taking a short-cut, but it's easier said than done squeezing a spacecraft through a wormhole.

According to a recent study in the human genome, mankind won't be around in less than 100,000 years, possibly as little as 10,000, because of mutations. Thermodynamics rules the universe, so any other intelligent life is also suffering the same effects.