ARE THERE ALIENS?
The issue of the existence of aliens in our universe has again shown its ET eyes on My NEWS 24 for the umpteenth time and no real proof has been submitted.
I have simply taken a different angle to answer the question but it, as all the other theories, cannot be proven with certainty. Much of the theories have a built-in emotive aura about them. Currently we may not use the speed of light to substantiate claims because, so far, the speed of light is not and cannot be exceeded given our current physics formulae.
Our closest star is Centaurus and is about 4.3 light years away and a light year is just under a trillion km away from our solar system. Let this distance be the radius of a sphere and the volume of this sphere be equated in cubic light years and the radius starts at the centre of our sun. the volume of this sphere is about 333 cubic light years, wherein there are no other stars or planets other than a few comets and asteroids. We assume we have, so far, found no trace of life other than bacteria. Now we go even further in a huge leap of space. We use star Denis as our next stop which is 16 light years from our solar system. The volume of this new sphere is 17157 cubic light years. And given that the search to this point has been efficient there may be found bits and pieces of dead stars and other spatial debris. A radio signal to Denis will take about 16years to get there and another 16 to return. So we can go on: we have already scanned the sphere covering 17157 cubic light years and we cannot know how efficiently. That scanning operation can only be done from earth or another planet.
Now we can go even further, say to Aldabaran which is 68 light years from our solar system. The volume of the encompassing sphere is 1,317061 million cubic light years. The radio signal will take 68 years there and 68 years to return home.. Finally we will take a very distant star and apply the same treatment.
That star can be Deneb which is a 1000 light years from our solar system: The volume of the sphere to be scanned for aliens has now grown to 4,188 multiplied by 10 to the power 9 cubic light years. The radio signal will take a thousand years to travel there and another thousand to return home. In all cases it is hardly practical going anywhere due to our limitations applied to speed and even so if we positively knew somebody was out there it would take massive logistics just getting there and back When looking at the volume of the sphere it can be seen to increase exponentially as the distance increases linearly. And therein lies the limitations of the search.
Note: Centaurus has been quoted as Proxima Centauri
Disclaimer: All articles and letters published on MyNews24 have been independently written by members of News24's community. The views of users published on News24 are therefore their own and do not necessarily represent the views of News24. News24 editors also reserve the right to edit or delete any and all comments received.