Poll Where are all the aliens? Are they hiding?

[Asbo Zaprudder]

33 Polyhymnia is over three times the density of the most dense element (osmium) and in a much larger orbit than Mercury so I don't think so. I expect the mass and possibly the size measurements are incorrect. As more Miranda, it was probably only just blasted apart and then reassembled, but it's a strange one. All these objects are fascinating and deserve greater scrutiny. The primary focus, however, seems to be on other objects.

If there is advanced intelligent life elsewhere in the Galaxy, one might expect to find evidence of the past activity of several Von Neumann probes in the Solar System. Would those aliens have sought to disguise that activity? I see no reason to do so unless they wanted to avoid attracting the attention of less advanced species or of rivals.

 

[Michael Two Wolves]

I expect the mass and possibly the size measurements are incorrect.

By how much?? Three times the density of osmium isn’t just “off” by a few percentage points. We’re talking about being off like aiming for New York and winding up in Tokyo.

Even if it was off by a factor of 50%, you’re still looking at elements heavier than osmium. And what study gets published where it’s suspected to be off by more than 50%?

Also, it was brought up that it could be from a brown dwarf or an exploding neutron star. With as common as such collisions and explosions are, one would think that the Oort Cloud acts as the main deflector for the solar system and the belt between Mars and Jupiter is probably littered with the slowed cast-offs spit out by others stars and systems, too massive to be deflected except by plowing through the asteroid field and Oort cloud.

My question is when does someone go Mass Effect and tow an asteroid into orbit for strip mining? Sure won’t be 33 Polyhymnia (which isn’t the only asteroid demonstrating heavier elements than osmium), but we could turn it into an interplanetary rocket with no fear of micrometeoroids. We don’t even have a material capable of drilling into the surface of 33 Polyhymnia.

 

[Asbo Zaprudder]

The body might harbour neutronium, but that is thought unlikely to be stable outside of stellar cores. Another possibility might be dark matter, but no-one knows what that is - or if it really exists. All we can say is that we don't know. That's why we should investigate such apparent anomalies. They're damnably intriguing and we might stand to benefit from resolving them.

 

[Michael Two Wolves]

Investigate how? There is literally nothing on earth strong enough to even do so much as leave a scratch on it.

Also, what about alpha matter? Or just the remains of an exploded brown dwarf?

 

[Asbo Zaprudder]

You're putting the cart before the horse in accepting the estimate as valid. Not even the principal investigator gives it much credence. Use remote sensing from a probe in orbit to start with - then think about how to retrieve samples. Speculation is fine and dandy but it's not science.

 

[Michael Two Wolves]

Again, even if their estimates are off by as much as 50%, still puts it outside the table of elements. Given the age of the solar system and the surrounding star systems, it's not inconceivable for a brown dwarf or something else to lob a chunk of ultra-dense dwarf star alloy our way.

Also, its effect on other bodies around it is indicative of something extremely heavy, so it's not just the single probe.

 

[Oddish]

Maybe we're all confined to our star systems, or near vicinity. I mean, even if we could get a ship up to 0.5c (about 13,000 times our current speed record), we'd still need nine years to get to the nearest star. And... faster than light travel is actually physically impossible.

 

[Michael Two Wolves]

And... faster than light travel is actually physically impossible.

The jury is still out on that. And that only applies to an object in this dimension. Electrons zip in and out of spacetime itself all the time. Despite the OSS and Navy Intelligence's best efforts, field propulsion is still a thing. The MIC very likely has working field propulsion drives (Project Skyvault, Project Rainbow) thanks to TT Brown (whom they later turned on and discredited). Brown's engines are in the B-2.

 

[Oddish]

Yes, the jury's out. So it's possible that it will prove to be impossible, and every species will be limited to a relatively small bubble, maybe a few thousand LY in diameter.

 

[Michael Two Wolves]

Unless the MIC decides to start letting some tech out. The SR-71 wasn’t known about for two decades, the F-117A for thirty. By best estimates, the MIC is 40-80 years ahead of anything we’ve seen.

Aside from that, there is also the fact that should we indeed discover elements beyond our periodic table, or other exotic forms of matter that are common in the universe, it will lead to other technologies that we cannot conceive of now.

Mathematically, time is the exact same thing as space for relativistic equations. Moreover, it is becoming increasingly clear that our current model of the universe is wrong and we made a mistake somewhere along the way.

Bohmian mechanics, and the DeBroglie-Bohm model, are both used in the Conformal Cyclic Cosmology model that reveals the conditions in the moments before the Big Bang look identical to the last moments of the universe after every last black hole evaporates.

Cue the Orbital theme song from Dr. Who…

 

[publiusr]

Investigate how? There is literally nothing on earth strong enough to even do so much as leave a scratch on it.

Well, if there are bits of it laying about, intertwine them in some cables like was used to cut up the Kursk…or the dude from AUDITION…

On aliens
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/tech...about-aliens-according-to-science/ar-AA1kw5dc

 

[Michael Two Wolves]

We’re gonna need to figure out zero-gee refining real quick. The first company to tow an asteroid into far orbit and strip mine it is going to be filthy rich.

 

[Asbo Zaprudder]

Interesting discovery that a large proportion of type O and Be stars observed by Gaia seem to be being propelled out of the Milky Way. Is this evidence of stellar engineering or is there a natural explanation?

To view this content we will need your consent to set third party cookies.
For more detailed information, see our cookies page.

Accept third party cookies

 

[Santaman]

^^ Yeah and Gaia has found 13 hypervelocity stars arriving from an unknown extragalactic source so there might be a real exchange going on.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaia_(spacecraft)#Significant_results

 

[Asbo Zaprudder]

^^ Yeah and Gaia has found 13 hypervelocity stars arriving from an unknown extragalactic source so there might be a real exchange going on.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaia_(spacecraft)#Significant_results

Aliens throwing stars that are about to go supernova at each other?

 

[Oddish]

Given that the lifespan of those stars is incredibly brief in galactic terms, I don't see the point in throwing them anywhere.

 

[PlainSimpleJoel]

Quite sure that they are out there - but don't really think of much.

I think of the Drake Equation - when it comes to aliens. Plus as a Human race we only explored our own Solar System. Yes we have used telescopes to look at other systems. It will be interesting to see what we have explored in 100 years time. Or even more centuries.

 

[Asbo Zaprudder]

Given that the lifespan of those stars is incredibly brief in galactic terms, I don't see the point in throwing them anywhere.

Still tens of millions of years. I doubt it's aliens - more likely stars that have been ejected from binary systems when the partner exploded. Intriguing though...

 

[BillJ]

The drive-thru line at the intergalactic Wendy's is brutal.

 

[Oddish]

Speaking of stellar matters, here's a fun fact... no star less than 7/8 the mass of the sun has ever met its natural end. Reason being, the universe is not old enough for it to have used up its hydrogen fuel.

Fun fact 2. A red dwarf of 1/8 the mass of the sun is only about 1% of the way through its projected lifespan.