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interstellar visitor

interstellar visitor

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@venda said
I've just watched a documentary on sky history about aliens,cover ups by the military,conspiracy theories and the like.They only briefly mention time travel,presumably discounting it because of the grandmother paradox.
Isn't it strange,considering how different life forms have evolved on Earth, that alien sightings and the like all seem to have bodies just like us?
We know we ...[text shortened]... ey wouldn't kill their own grandmothers
I suppose it's inevitable some may crash,hence Roswell etc.
Relativity alters the rate of time, not the direction.

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@wildgrass said
Relativity alters the rate of time, not the direction.
Yes I know that and travelling backwards in time seems to contravene the laws of physics,but I don't think a species from somewhere else would focus on an insignificant planet orbiting an insignificant star and coincidentally look essentially human.To our ancestors a lot of things in today's world would seem impossible.There's a lot of evidence suggesting witnessing unknown phenomena over the centuries.Can it all be just wrong?


@venda said
Yes I know that and travelling backwards in time seems to contravene the laws of physics,but I don't think a species from somewhere else would focus on an insignificant planet orbiting an insignificant star and coincidentally look essentially human.To our ancestors a lot of things in today's world would seem impossible.There's a lot of evidence suggesting witnessing unknown phenomena over the centuries.Can it all be just wrong?
An unknown is not evidence of anything. It is just an unknown until evidence presents itself and then it's known. Anything suggesting aliens is just a guess, a hypothesis statement, but that guess seems highly unlikely considering other more plausible explanations.

Aliens exist, but the distance and time constraints between ourselves and the aliens make contact extremely unlikely.

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@wildgrass said
An unknown is not evidence of anything. It is just an unknown until evidence presents itself and then it's known. Anything suggesting aliens is just a guess, a hypothesis statement, but that guess seems highly unlikely considering other more plausible explanations.

Aliens exist, but the distance and time constraints between ourselves and the aliens make contact extremely unlikely.
I agree that aliens exist and the vast distances prevent contact.
What I am saying is if there is any truth of alien life on Earth, and I'm not convinced there is,there could be more plausible explanations as you say,how likely is it that the "creatures" would resemble humans?.
I would say highly unlikely.

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@venda said
I agree that aliens exist and the vast distances prevent contact.
What I am saying is if there is any truth of alien life on Earth, and I'm not convinced there is,there could be more plausible explanations as you say,how likely is it that the "creatures" would resemble humans?.
I would say highly unlikely.
Oh no of course not.. just look at all the diversity of body plan provided by natural selection on earth..even non-cellular life.

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@wildgrass said
Oh no of course not.. just look at all the diversity of body plan provided by natural selection on earth..even non-cellular life.
Exactly right,as I said at the start

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There is a new paper out on how to reach 3I Atlas in about 50 years time.


https://www.universetoday.com/articles/a-new-concept-for-catching-up-with-3iatlas

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@Ponderable said
There is a new paper out on how to reach 3I Atlas in about 50 years time.


https://www.universetoday.com/articles/a-new-concept-for-catching-up-with-3iatlas
That would be something considering Atlas is flying around 130,000 odd Km an hour which means it is high tailing it the hell out of Dodge so there better be something a bit faster than that to intercept🙂

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@sonhouse said
That would be something considering Atlas is flying around 130,000 odd Km an hour which means it is high tailing it the hell out of Dodge so there better be something a bit faster than that to intercept🙂
Yes they suggest several accelerating swing-by manouvres

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@Ponderable said
Yes they suggest several accelerating swing-by manouvres
Are they saying it would take 50 years to intercept? They better have a lot of redundant systems onboard then, even the Voyagers are not 50 years old and they are slowly dying because even their nuclear supplies are running out.

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@sonhouse said
Are they saying it would take 50 years to intercept? They better have a lot of redundant systems onboard then, even the Voyagers are not 50 years old and they are slowly dying because even their nuclear supplies are running out.
I think it is ore of a theoretical exercise, since there will be no money to built and send the ship.

The Voyagers are deeply impressive, especially when thinking about the technological level of their time. There has been a lot of development since.

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@Ponderable said
I think it is ore of a theoretical exercise, since there will be no money to built and send the ship.

The Voyagers are deeply impressive, especially when thinking about the technological level of their time. There has been a lot of development since.
I wonder if the reason Voyagers are slowly failing as the RTG runs out of its load of Plutonium, is there any newer power tech that could last longer now?

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@sonhouse said
I wonder if the reason Voyagers are slowly failing as the RTG runs out of its load of Plutonium, is there any newer power tech that could last longer now?
There are other RTG's which would run longer and they ahd been known, but who would have predicted that lifetime for the voyagers' systems?

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@Ponderable said
There are other RTG's which would run longer and they ahd been known, but who would have predicted that lifetime for the voyagers' systems?
For sure, well now we know so we can make longer lived RTG's.

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@sonhouse said
I wonder if the reason Voyagers are slowly failing as the RTG runs out of its load of Plutonium, is there any newer power tech that could last longer now?
If it's anything like "newer tech" in kitchen appliances then a new voyager won't last 10 years.