light year = mind boggling

A light year (or light-year, or lightyear), is the distance light travels in one year: about 9.461 × 1015 metres (9.461 petametres), or about 5.879 × 1012 (nearly six trillion) miles.

ok, so basically a light year is roughly 6 trillion miles right? the greys are supposedly from the zeta reticuli star system which is approximately 39 light years from earth. 39 times 6 trillion...do the math lol. my point here is, how in the hell could they travel a distance like that? our most distant space probe, the voyager 1, was 13 light 'hours' away from earth in 2004 and it took 27 years for it to reach that distance. it took us 27 years to send a device 13 light hours, not even a light year, just hours...i do not even think our brains can comprehend travelling something like 39 light years. so if they really are visiting our planet, more than anything i just want to know how they did it...

This is what kept me from believing that Alien life could be visiting Earth for the longest time.
Then I came to ATS .

They could be warping space or teleporting. Maybe they just know something we dumb apes have no clue about.

I agree on the mindboggling thing. When I get to seeing the numbers involved in planetary distance etc I get dizzy . Space is just so damn...infinite. 6 Trilion miles...

Umbrax...I think that might be the only possible way to travel those types of distances. Blackholes, warping, wormholes, some crazy thing like that. If that is the case, I think us humans are going to have a real rough time learning and understanding...at least I know I will lol...

Join the club, that is the big question. In fact this is the big sticking point for many skeptics. Many agree life is most likely out there, but the rason many doubt that alien life has ever visited Earth is because of the vast distances of space.

But remember, it they are an advanced race out there, they may have figured out how to create worm holes or warp drives or what ever.

Just like we are more advanced then our ancesters, if you asked people before the Wright Brothers first flew if we would ever be able to fly across the country ( or from one country to another) they would have said that it was impossible and no one would ever be able to achieve this but look at us now.

Who knows what we (or aliens ) will be able to accomplish in the future.

Originally posted by bpletcj
Just like we are more advanced then our ancesters, if you asked people before the Wright Brothers first flew if we would ever be able to fly across the country ( or from one country to another) they would have said that it was impossible and no one would ever be able to achieve this but look at us now.

Who knows what we (or aliens ) will be able to accomplish in the future.

That is such a good point. Only less than a hundred years ago our ancestors never would have imagined the technology we are capable of today. Just think, the Zetas might have been advanced with technology for more than thousands of years now. Depending on how long they have been around, then yes...they are currently using technology that us humans today would deem impossible...

It really does seem to be infinite to the mind from the perspective of Human experience.

But think about it from a Galactic perspective , the Zeta reticuli system is just next door to us ( Sol system).

It should also be recognized that the Voyager I & II were not built or designed to attempt to travel the vast distances between Stars just to explore our Solar System.

bpletcj brings up some good points too, we have only been able to fly in Earth's atmosphere for just over 100 years so we surely are ignorant of the possibilities of interstellar travel.

I hope I live long enough to be able to witness some Real space travel, with Big interstellar ships. I'll die happy. Space is probably just like Startrek, with all sorts of alien species inter-mingling (hopefully without the wars-- although that would be cool from a spectators POV)

Edit: yea, Im pessimistic also...

[edit on 8-2-2006 by Unplugged]

Originally posted by Unplugged
I hope I live long enough to be able to witness some Real space travel, with Big interstellar ships. I'll die happy. Space is probably just like Startrek, with all sorts of alien species inter-mingling (hopefully without the wars-- although that would be cool from a spectators POV)

I feel the same way. I hate to be a pessimist, but I think we are still alive in too early of an age. We have a long way to go unless we get some help along the way...

"if you asked people before the Wright Brothers first flew if we would ever be able to fly across the country
( or from one country to another) they would have said that it was impossible " == bpletcj

I do not believe this is an example appropriate to the comparison being made. Here is why. If you asked that question back then,
most folks have actually SEEN flight, birds etc, thus they know that flight itself is possible, but did not seem
possible for a man.

There is no interstellar example of a bird. Where is the example to show us it is possible ? That does not mean
we cannot get there, it just means that this is something without an example to follow.

Just on a side not - teleporting isn't faster than light either... it's still just travelling at the speed of light.

However, yes, warping of space-time seems to be the leading candidate for crossing very large distances.

Another problem is, of course, being able to FIND the earth in the first place! Even our solar system is pretty big. Pluto is 5 light hours away from earth... so once again, do the math, and that's a lot of space inbetween! Or as the Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy says...

"Space," it says, "is big. Really big! You just won't believe how hugely, vastely, MIND-BOGGINGLY big it is! I mean, you may think it's a long walk down the street to the pharmacist's - but that's just PEANUTS to space. Listen..."

And so on...

After a while the tone settles down a bit, and it starts telling you things that you need to know. Like, for example, if you take in a lungfull of air you can survive in the vacuum of space for about 30 seconds. But, with space being the size it is, your chances of being picked up in that time is 3 ^ 3987532 to 1 against. Which, by staggering coincidence, was the telephone number of an Islington flat where Aurther Dent went to a very fancy dress party and met a very nice girl who he totally blew it with.

Though the earth, the Islington flat, and the telephone were demolished, Ford and Aurther were - in fact - rescued.

Originally posted by Umbrax
This is what kept me from believing that Alien life could be visiting Earth for the longest time.
Then I came to ATS

.

They could be warping space or teleporting. Maybe they just know something we dumb apes have no clue about.

I dont see why.we always think we can know everything.

Just because we cant comprehend light speed travel doesnt mean it doesnt happen.

Is obvious that they have mastered space travel,long before we did..i mean if your race had been around for millions of years,think of the all the cool things you might have discovered by now.

Things like this..are what make ufo's & aliens so intresting to me.

Umbrax you have some really cool avatars...Do you like mine lol




[edit on 8-2-2006 by MagicPriest420]

According to people who have worked for the government and who claim to have seen advanced alien technology up close, the Zetans use antigravity wave propulsion systems. This enables their spacecraft to warp the space-time continuum and thereby greatly shorten the time it takes to go to/from the Sol System and the Zeta 2 Reticuli System.

If that be the case, are Zetan ships in deep space going faster than the speed of light?

Technically...no.

Matter cannot go faster than the speed of light. Einsteinian physics illustrates that fact. However, the space-time continuum can be manipulated to a certain extent with antigravity wave technology. When I mean by certain extent is that they cannot manifest time travel, but they can greatly shorten the time it takes for interstellar voyages.

What happens is that their antigravity wave generators warp the space-time continuum so that they indirectly go faster than the speed of light.

Many people have thought that the aliens are interdimensional beings because their ships and probes occasionally appear to disappear into thin air. Clever those Zetans.

In actuality, what is really happening is that they are using advanced cloaking technology. When you generate a strong EM field around an object, it becomes optically invisible. The US Navy first stumbled upon this in the 1940s when they were trying to develop radar stealth for their warships -- during the ill-fated Philadelphia Experiment. The Zetans have simply perfected the process so that their crews are insulated against harmful EM radiation.

When you see a UFO vanish in a ball of light, it is not teleporting away; someone just threw the EM field switch, granting the manned craft or probe the cloak of optical invisibility.

But that's just my opinion.

If aliens were traveling close to lightspeed which is possible the time they experience on ship could be very short thanks to time dialation. A 50 year trip at .9 light speed could be done in days or weeks perhaps even hours depending how close you get to LS. The faster you go the slower time gets for you. In theory you can cover the known universe in something like 27 years your time if you got close enough to LS while billons of years had passed for everyone eles.

We (humans) already have a bunch of ways that atleast in theory allow you to cover a distance much faster then even LS would allow without ever going anywhere near LS. The fact that humans can even concieve such methods is optimistic when you consider aliens could easily be millions of years more advanced then us tech wise.

Just go back 500 years in human history and things we can do today would have been thought of as impossible by earths so called greatest minds.

So basically what everyone is trying to say is that we have only been on earth as civilized people for about 2,006 years and what we know is most likely up to date. But other planets light years away could have been civilized for 10,000 years and have had more time to created and test technology like space travel.

think big, anything is possible all that is required is the inbetween steps.

Look at the new rocket they just launched to Pluto, it traveled the distance to the moon in a few hours, where apollo took a couple days (3?).

So in less then 40 years time we have dramatically chenged the travel time to the moon. Maybe in another 40 years we will be able to get to Pluto in a few weeks instead of years and then again in another 40 years maybe get to Pluto in a few days.

Ultimately for man to travel to the "stars" he needs to come into the possession of technology far greater then his current "steps" can support.

This is the premise for Macross, Robotech etc. Sci Fiction in a way pretells the future knowledge of man, lest he imagine it so shall it exist (at some point).

There are a great number of references to star trek devices from the TV series that we have today. While we may not have transporters and warp drives huge progress is being made in the use of magnetic /gravetic manioulations of "force" to provide low cost (input energy) high output thrust.

It will come in time. Either through mans proding away at each step and leap in technology and discovery which might take another 150 years or more. Or through the aid of some Intergallatic friends who think it is in mans and the universe best interest for him to travel the stars and discover what awaits him out in the big void.

Of course in interesting paradox that is, since it is quite possible that "they" really dont want us travelling out there among them just yet.....

Unplugged said:

I hope I live long enough to be able to witness some Real space travel, with Big interstellar ships.

BINGO!
Barring warping space and other stuff like that, if we could have generations of humans that lived, breathed, ate and s**t on huge motherships they could travel many lightyears, who said one needs to do it right away?
The ships we see (or don't) on earth are mere scoutships, they don't seem large enough to sustain life for long periods.

Just a theory.

Originally posted by Toadmund
Unplugged said:

I hope I live long enough to be able to witness some Real space travel, with Big interstellar ships.

BINGO!
Barring warping space and other stuff like that, if we could have generations of humans that lived, breathed, ate and s**t on huge motherships they could travel many lightyears, who said one needs to do it right away?
The ships we see (or don't) on earth are mere scoutships, they don't seem large enough to sustain life for long periods.

Just a theory.

I totally agree, I have been thnking about the same thing lately. Even if we dont get space-warping tech, if we can go fast with big ships that can enable us to actually live on them- then voyages wouldnt need to be so immediate.

There are alternatives to the nearest star, how about Niburu, this planet was discussed at the time of the sumerians, it was close to the earth 3600 years ago (thats how long it takes to orbit once) and in a couple of years time it will be close to earth again, it was spotted not long ago but was called planet X, here is a listing of it .i think you will find this interesting.
Why the sumerians wrote about this planet so long ago that has just been seen by our telescopes, makes you wonder, maybe there are some form of life on this planet.
xfacts.com...

[edit on 8-2-2006 by stmichael]

[edit on 8-2-2006 by stmichael]

I just wanted to clear up that teleportation is instantaneous. It does not travel at light speed. It has nothing to do with travel, it is teleportation and is instantaneous but so far only works at a single molecular level.

[edit on 8-2-2006 by dgoodpasture]