If you happen to have a very clear and dark night, you can see the Milky Way Galaxy like a River of Light spreading across the sky from one end of the horizon to the next. Just imagine a tiny dot of faint light out there is a single star similar to our Sun with 500 worlds revolving around it.
When I was a child, I wondered what
all those stars were twinkling out there in the night sky. When I grew up, I
wondered if those stars seen in the dark alley behind my house have life in
their worlds that are much, much more beautiful than ours, where beings live in
eternal peace and absolute happiness so unlike our troubled and stressful world
we experience here. I began to learn astronomy because of this reason.
But let’s first look at our Solar
System.
Our solar system is made up of our Sun and eight major planets, with countless
smaller bodies such as dwarf planets, and asteroids. Some asteroids have
more than 300 moons
Various methods have been used to
discover other bodies outside the Solar System. These planets outside our own
Solar System are called exoplanets or extrasolar planets. Their
presence is detected using various methods, briefly mention below:
1.
Measuring their radial velocity, or wobble of a stat that measures the line-of-sight
velocity, or the rate of change of the distance or range between the two
points. Using this method, some 1,036 planets were discovered at this time of
writing.
2.
Most exoplanets have been discovered using the transit method when a planet
passes between a star and its observer. Transits reveal an exoplanet not
because we directly see it from many light-years away, but because the planet
passing in front of its star ever so slightly dims its light. This dimming can
be seen in light curves – graphs showing light received over a period of time.
When the exoplanet passes in front of the star, the light curve will show a dip
in brightness. The light curve data helps determine a variety of different
exoplanet characteristics. The size of the exoplanet’s orbit can be calculated
from how long it takes to orbit once (the period), and the size of the planet
itself can be calculated based on how much the star’s brightness lowered.
3.
Direct imaging by taking pictures directly has its limitation in that the
planets are so far away that their images are so faint. Only 66 planets
have been discovered so far using direct photography.
4.
Gravitational Microlensing is a method used by measuring how light from a
distant star bends by the presence of a body in between during its transit to
Earth. As a planet revolves around a star, gravitational microlensing causes
the brightening and dimming of a star by an object passing between
the star and an observer. Since 2004 many extrasolar planets have been
found through gravitational microlensing, including several so-called
free-floating planets that do not orbit any star. This technique depends on an
effect first discussed by physicist Albert Einstein. In his 1916 paper
on general relativity, he showed how light that passed a massive
object would be deflected by the object’s gravity. In this way, an extrasolar
planet can act as a gravitational lens that would focus the light
from a more distant star. Some 187 planets have been discovered using microlensing.
5.
Another method is through astrometry. This method detects the motion of a star
by making precise measurements of its position on the sky. This technique
detects the presence of planets around a star by measuring tiny changes in the
star's position as it wobbles around the centre of mass of the planetary
system. As far as I know only two exoplanets have been discovered using
astrometry.
In the past few decades, the number
of planets discovered beyond our Solar System has grown by leaps and bounds. As
of October 4th, 2018, a total of 3,869 exoplanets have been confirmed
in 2,887 planetary systems, with 638 systems hosting multiple planets.
Unfortunately, due to the limitations astronomers have been forced to contend
with using indirect methods for a majority of them. .
Within our Milky Way Galaxy itself there is a minimum of 100 million stars
according to older estimates, but we now think there could be as much as 400 billion or even 500 billion stars. But
I personally estimate that there could be even more than 5,00 billion
(500,000,000,000 or 500 thousand million). We are still uncertain and still
counting
Let us use 400 billion stars in the Milky Way Galaxy, with each star harbouring
4,000 other worlds of all sizes revolving around each of them as an estimate.
In such an estimate, there would be at least 1.6 x 10 15
(16,00 trillion) other worlds or planets in the Milky Way Galaxy.
That's not all. Within our Universe 93 billion light years across, there could
be as many galaxies as there are stars in our own Galaxy. Let us use even a
much lower and a more modest figure of only 250 billion stars in our own Milky
Way Galaxy instead of 400 or 500 billion other astronomers estimate.
Using this conservative
estimate of 250 billion stars a in a typical galaxy to multiple itself as the
number of galaxies in the universe, and multiple this again by 4,000 planets in
each star system, our answer is an absolutely astounding 2.5 x 10 26 (250
trillion, trillion) other planets or worlds within an Observable Universe. Some
much older estimates put the numbers of stars in the Universe as 10 21
but we think there are far more than that when we have better and better and
more powerful space-orbiting telescopes now in place constantly surveying the
heavens.
Here are the numbers of stars God
Revealed to Abraham:
When the angel of the Lord called
upon Abraham, he said:
“That in blessing I will bless
thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of heaven, and
as the sand which is upon the seashore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of
his enemies” (Genesis 22:17).
Of course, there are
only about 5,000 stars visible to the naked eye on a very clear and
dark night. This would be the numbers of stars Abraham would have been able to
see even in the dry, clear desert skies where he dwelled. There was no way for
Abraham to see more than 5,000 without a telescope. He wouldn’t have known
there were as many stars in heavens as there were sands on all the seashores in
the world during his days. But that was God revealed to Abraham.
On the numbers of sands on Earth,
we have calculated that if the Earth's surface is covered with 0.5 m of sand
evenly all over, then there are 2.7 x 10 25 grains of sand.
This works out that the heavens
(Universe) have 432 times more stars than all the sands covering the entire
surface of Earth 0.5 m thick.
Alternatively, see this article
here on sands on a seashore:
https://scientificlogic.blogspot.com/search?q=sands+on+earth
The numbers of sands in all the
seashores and beyond would not even match the numbers of stars in heavens.
Abraham would not know this till God revealed this to him.
Do we now in our right sense of
thinking believe we are the only world that has life here? If we think earth is
the only world that has life on it is the same as claiming that among all those
astronomical numbers of sands on the seashore, there is only one special
teeny-tiny grain of sand that has microbes on it, the rest are all completely
sterile. We can’t be as conceited, arrogant and self-important as that, are we?
I have always thought not just one
or two but hundreds of thousands of million other worlds that look exactly and
precisely like our own world. In these worlds they have streets, shops,
schools, banks, buildings, trains, cars, rivers, bridges, seas, etc
exactly like ours there.
In those worlds there would also be humans and or human-like animals creeping
and crawling there.
If we understand statistics on chance and probability, we have to accept this
reality if we take random samples in a large population to find similarity in
each sample. Why should we be that special? The worlds out there are like sands
on the seashore and on all the deserts of the world. We then multiply those
numbers many, many times more.
If we have a logical thinking brain, we will understand that there would be
countless grains even on a teaspoon of sands that would look exactly the same
as each other, let alone untold numbers of sands that look exactly like each
other among all those sands on a seashore.
We don’t even need the Frank Drake
equation to tell us if there are intelligent and advanced civilizations in the
Milky Way. Frank Drake equation is given by:
N = R*fpneflfifcL.
Where:
N = the number
of civilizations in the Milky Way galaxy with which communication
might be possible
R∗ =
the average rate of star formation in our Galaxy
fp = the
fraction of those stars that have planets
ne = the
average number of planets that can potentially support life per star
that has planets
fl = the
fraction of planets that could support life that actually develop life at some
point
fi = the
fraction of planets with life that actually go on to
develop intelligent life (civilizations)
fc = the
fraction of civilizations that develop a technology that releases detectable
signs of their existence into space
L = the length of time
for which such civilizations release detectable signals into space
Nor do we need to look for planets
with Earth-like characteristics, like liquid water where a celestial object can
only orbit so close (like Mercury) or so far (like Pluto) from its star before
water on its surface boils away or freezes.
This concept is called the
'Goldilocks Zone,' or habitable zone. It is the distance of a world with the
right temperatures for water to remain liquid from the star. Discoveries in the
Goldilocks Zone, like Earth-size planet Kepler-186f, are what scientists hope
will lead us to water and life.
There are two steps in the
calculation for the Goldilocks Zone:
Step 1:
Estimate the host star’s absolute
luminosity based on the star’s apparent visual magnitude by calculating the
absolute visual magnitude of the host star based on the star’s apparent
magnitude.
Mv = mv –
5 log (d/10)
Where:
Mv = Absolute
magnitude of the star
mv = apparent
magnitude of the star (visual spectrum)
d = distance from Earth to the star
in parsecs
Step 2: Calculate
bolometric magnitude of the host star.
Mbol = Mv +
BC
Where:
Mbol = bolometric
magnitude of the star
Mv = the absolute
magnitude of the star
BC = bolometric correction constant
There is also no need for
scientists to embark in their Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence (SETI)
to listen to radio signals transmitted by other civilizations in other planets
among the stars. Neither do we need China's huge 500-meter Aperture Spherical
Telescope (FAST), the world’s largest radio telescope to do the same.
International efforts have been
ongoing since the 1980s to look for advanced civilizations among the stars. In
2015, Stephen Hawking and Israeli billionaire Yuri
Milner announced the Breakthrough Listen Project, a $100 million
10-year attempt to detect signals from nearby stars. None has been successful
since.
Common sense would instantly tell
us untold numbers of civilizations exist out there among the myriads of stars
except they do not want to communicate with us. Why should they? What is so
great and advanced about us? Would any life among the sands in a vast
seashore wish to communicate with one teeny-tiny isolated far-off grain of sand
called “Earth”?
We already instinctively know they
are there without us needing to search for them.
Even in other worlds beyond the
Goldilocks Zone there may be silicon-based life that may not even need water.
There may be worlds with the same appearance as ours with even humans or
human-like creatures on them. This may be different from our understanding of
the evolution of life on Earth that requires water that has given rise to such
enormous biodiversity of life on Earth with untold colours, shapes, sizes and
genetic diversity. We may not necessarily expect this the same as in other
worlds. Their conditions for their existence may be entirely different from
ours. We may even expect human-like beings with grotesque faces, limbs
and bodies out there. Their appearances would be so frightening, weird and
surreal, so fearfully and frighteningly different from ours. We can also expect
human-like beings to be so beautiful, kind, loving, hospitable, and understanding.
They may be towering giants in smaller worlds or tiny and light Lilliputians
hardly a few cm tall in giant worlds where gravity is strong. We do not even
know if life is carbon and DNA-based as we know it here. All kinds of
possibilities far beyond our wildest imagination are possible given the
horrendous myriads of other worlds out there that may have created and evolved
under entirely different conditions than ours.
We may even find tiny human
creatures with wings that fly around like birds, or giant humans with multiple
eyes, eight or ten hands, several legs and eery faces in another world or in
the same world living together. We might even find an ancient world as it was
one million years ago on earth, either similar or dissimilar from ours where all
kinds of creatures’ dwell alongside humans or human-like beings with weird and
anomalous faces and features. We have no clue.
Likewise, there may also be worlds
that are 100,000 years or more advanced than ours who have conquered all ills
and diseases whose state of art in medicine is exactly like how Jesus treated
the sick by just one touch of their hands. All kinds of possibilities,
combinations and permutations are possible considering the horrendous number of
worlds out there among the stars. All these possibilities depend on the
conditions and environment out there, and how life was created or evolved, and
also how they adapt themselves over several million years, more or less.
Of course, many, many worlds are
sterile and devoid of all life like we know them so fare. But what about the
vast majority of the rest we have not seen or explored? Here on Earth, we can
already see all kinds of creatures of different shapes, colours, sizes, genetic
characteristics among others. We already have at least 10 million species of
life here thriving in our own small little world, and they are all different in
morphology, shapes, sizes, physiology, and their requirements for existence.
What about 250 trillion, trillion other planets or worlds under all kinds of weird
conditions spread across all heavens 93 billion light-years in diameter?
We don’t expect all the worlds out there are similar to ours where life has
evolved and have existed exactly the same as ours. Of course, there is a very
high chance that many, many worlds are the same as ours where life evolved
under the same conditions and patterns as ours, in fact a mirror image to ours.
But there is also a chance of the extreme. We have no clue at the moment
because we have so far not detected even the simplest life form even in our
nearest neighbour, the Moon, or in Mars, let alone in other planets or
extrasolar planets we have already discussed. We only need to close our eyes
and imagine all possibilities, all kinds of beings, and living creatures
presented with all kinds of strange, offbeat shapes and sizes in other worlds
entirely different from ours. Their existence may depend on conditions there in
their words, how they came into existence, their requirements for continuing
existence, how they adapt to challenges in their environments. Anything is
possible in other worlds as much as we see and experience here among the wide
spectrum of life here on Earth. The evolution of life and their characteristics
may be much, much more different from just the single world they exist together
just like here on Earth. We can go on and on with all possibilities how they
look in different parts of alien worlds scattered over such a horrendously vast
reach of heavens. Some ideas here should suffice.
We can also expect spiritual beings
like angels flying about. Life out there may not necessarily be carbon-based,
nor do they require air or water as there is no sea, rivers or lakes there.
They may also be silicon-based life whose chemistry is entirely different from
ours. See this article:
https://scientificlogic.blogspot.com/search?q=silicon+life
Life in some of the myriads of
worlds may exist as pure “energy of life” like a soul without the body.
They may also exist as viruses such
as:
Is SARS Virus an Alien Visitor from
Another World?
https://scientificlogic.blogspot.com/search?q=comets+carrying+life
Why must life have a physical body
like we know here? See
“Does Soul Exist” in Part II under
“Does A Human Soul Travel Faster than the Speed of Light?” here:
https://scientificlogic.blogspot.com/search?q=is+there+a+soul
There is also the presence of
principalities and higher powers in other worlds.
“For we wrestle not against flesh
and blood, but against principalities, against
powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual
wickedness in high places” (Ephesians 6:12).
“For by him were all things
created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible,
whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things
were created by him, and for him” (Colossians 1:16).
Their civilizations may be tens of
thousands or millions of light years more advanced than ours. Take Jesus who
came from another world to ours over 2,000 years ago as an example. His
miracles defy all laws in biology, medicine, chemistry and physics that we know
of in this world. His practice of healing and medicine by merely touching a
person afflicted with all kinds of illnesses, or merely touching the clothes
Jesus was wearing and she was instantly cured, showed His healing powers were
tens of hundreds of light years ahead of our modern medicine where we depend on
all kinds of drugs and surgery.
“Now there was a woman who
had been suffering from haemorrhages for twelve years; and though she had spent
all she had on physicians, no one could cure her. She came up behind Jesus and
touched the fringe of his clothes, and immediately her haemorrhage stopped
(Luke 8:43 – 48).
So was his first miracle in
chemistry when He converted water into wine:
Scientific
Logic: Jesus First Miracle: A Hind Thought on Life
In physics and in meteorology when
He walked on water and rebuked the storm (Matthew 14:22-33).
His miracle on biology when He
raised up the dead. Here is just one example of Lazarus being brought back to life by Jesus as
described in John 11:1–45.
He also clearly revealed He came from another world. But He was born in
human form.
“My kingdom is not of this world”
(John 18:36).
Just think about all these possibilities given that the age of an Observable
Universe is 13.8 thousand million years old, and the Earth is 4.543 billion
years old. But the Universe is expanding ever since its birth and is now
stretching with a radius of about 46.5 billion light-years and with a
diameter of about 28.5 gigaparsecs or 93 billion light-years (8.8×1026 metres)
across.
