There Might Be 100 Million Planets In The Galaxy With Complex Life

What a multitude of worlds! A new study suggests that the Milky Way could host 100 million planets with complex life, leaving no lack of choice for astronomers to look for organisms beyond Earth. The challenge is, however, that these worlds might be too far away from us to do much yet.

“On the one hand, it seems highly unlikely that we are alone,” stated Louis Irwin, lead author of the study and professor emeritus at the University of Texas at El Paso. “On the other hand, we are likely so far away from life at our level of complexity, that a meeting with such alien forms is extremely improbable for the foreseeable future.”

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Millions of planets, all these millions of planets, what purpose do they serve?

Peak Warming Man said:

Millions of planets, all these millions of planets, what purpose do they serve?

To act as incubators to grow my army that will take over the universe

wookiemeister said:

Peak Warming Man said:

Millions of planets, all these millions of planets, what purpose do they serve?

To act as incubators to grow my army that will take over the universe

That’s as good as any.

Peak Warming Man said:

Millions of planets, all these millions of planets, what purpose do they serve?

I grow my pot plants on them

>> that these worlds might be too far away from us to do much yet.

Jaysus, did someone get paid for writing this?

space would be awfully empty without them. that is why the exist. to fill up the corners.

wookiemeister said:

Peak Warming Man said:

Millions of planets, all these millions of planets, what purpose do they serve?

To act as incubators to grow my army that will take over the universe

Peak Warming Man said:

Millions of planets, all these millions of planets, what purpose do they serve?

To discover them and to discover the diversity of life

i know sibeen, but some readers, not mentioning any names, need to be reminded of these basics.

I’m growing my army of welfare recipients on the moon

When I’m ready I will unleash them on the developed nations and crush them once and for all

CrazyNeutrino said:

There Might Be 100 Million Planets In The Galaxy With Complex Life

There might be one

dv said:

CrazyNeutrino said:

There Might Be 100 Million Planets In The Galaxy With Complex Life

There might be one

It’s still mine. I bagsed it first!

party_pants said:

dv said:

CrazyNeutrino said:

There Might Be 100 Million Planets In The Galaxy With Complex Life

There might be one

It’s still mine. I bagsed it first!

…. pffft!!! Licked it. You lose….

I delayed reading the article in the OP, figuring that it would be stupid and make me angry.

Turns it out it was stupid but I have achieved a zen-like state of peace and tolerance now.

This new study is close to pointless, in terms of actually making the assessment stated, because it does nothing at all to address the single remaining unknown in the equation.

We already knew roughly how many planets there are and had reasonable estimates of the physical and chemical statistic of them. Increasing or decreasing by a factor of ten our estimate of the number of “life friendly” planets does not significantly change the situation with regard to an estimate of the number of planets that host life.

This is because the single remaining unknown is the probably, under good circumstances or bad, of life arising. The answer is going to come from molecular biologists, not planetary physicists. Estimates range from basically 0 to basically 1. Until this matter is resolved, no further information from the planetary scientists is going to aid us in estimating the number of planets.

This article is a bunch of nothing.

thanks dv. i read these articles with a grain of salt too.

The answer is going to come from molecular biologists

—-

You mean that we haven’t explained how life first started on Earth.Great point.

Thanks.

I never get enough praise around here.

> A new study suggests that the Milky Way could host 100 million planets with complex life

As usual, these studies all ignore the orbital eccentricity of planetary orbits. The circular orbits of planets around the Sun seem to be most unusual.

On the other hand, subsurface life could possibly develop much more easily on planets, dwarf planets and moons than surface life.

The whole question of the number of life-bearing astronomical bodies has to remain an open one until someone makes cellular life from simple chemicals here on Earth, and for that you need a BIG experiment – eg. 500,000 cubic metres of water vapour, methane ammonia and other simple chemicals.

People like to chat about life elsewhere in the universe, even though there’s still nothing much to say.

Bubblecar said:

People like to chat about life elsewhere in the universe, even though there’s still nothing much to say.

It’s life, Jim, but not as we know it.

Bubblecar said:

People like to chat about life elsewhere in the universe, even though there’s still nothing much to say.

ATTT