| HotLiquidMagma.com A Practical Guide to Astronomy |
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Travelling Through Space |
Speed of LightA beam of light travels 186,000 miles per second (almost 300,000 km or seven times around the Earth). The time it would take light to travel from the Earth to the Sun is 8 minutes. One light year = almost 10 trillion km or 6 trillion miles. |
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As we approach the speed of light, time as we know it, slows down. For example. If we sent a clock into space and then it returned, it would show less time had passed than a clock that had remained on the Earth. Just basing it on shear conservative numbers, moons around planets, planets around suns, suns inside of galaxies, galaxies inside universes, it is quite possible that on one of those other planets, life has formed. How do we find them?Because of the way radio waves travel it is likely that we will hear other being before we see them. Just as we have been listening in on the noises made from the far reaches of the galaxies around us, so too may some beings hear the sounds we are transmitting everyday. Beginning with the first wireless messages from Marconi, we have been broadcasting into space since the 1920's. These first messages have only travelled to about 100 other stars. Perhaps one day another type of being from another galaxy may hear our 'sounds'.Hundreds of technical questions arise like, do we use the same frequency? Will we be able to communicate with them? Perhaps by the time we find a transmission from outer space, that life form may be already extinct like our dinosaurs. Can we still learn from them? All we can do is keep trying to listen to see if there is anyone out there. |
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