Just when I thought I was at the center of the universe.
I learned today that scientists in Australia have
calculated there are 70 sextillion or 70,000 million million million VISIBLE
stars in our universe (not including the possibly infinite number beyond the
reach of our telescopes). That number calculates to about "10 times as many
stars as grains of sand on all the world's beaches and deserts." Here's how the
number looks written
out.
70,000,000,000,000,000,000,000
(seems like it would be longer huh?) You'll have to puzzle out the Roman Numeral
version on your own.
If only a
conservative "one in a billion" of these stars are orbited by planets harboring
life, the universe would contain 70,000,000,000,000 places sort of like earth.
If only one in a billion of the resulting earth-like planets gave birth to
"intelligent" life, we end up with a sparsely populated universe containing just
70,000 alien civilizations.
Makes you
think.
"No man ever steps
in the same river twice, for it's not the same river and he's not the same man."
- Heraclitus
Posted: Tue - July 22, 2003 at 03:42 PM