How can we be sure anything beyond our solar system exists?

Question

We see the universe in the past, the light from our sun takes 8 minutes to get here, and objects beyond our solar system hundreds of thousands, to millions of years to get to earth.

Answer 1

Hello...

I'm going to step back from a literal reading of your question, and address the larger question you are posing: how can we be sure of our *knowledge* of objects outside the Solar System?

My answer is that we are as sure of this as we are sure of the weakest link in the chain of evidence for them.

Science's power comes in in it's transparency. If you can positively demonstrate that the least fact about a theory is wrong, you have just invalidated the whole theory.

This is why I am confident that stars, nebulae etc really are light years away from us - because *astronomers have been wrong about how far they are* in the past.

For example, one method of determining the distance of objects out to about 10 million light years involves the study of "Cepheid Variable" stars, which have a known relationship between the period of the fluctuation of their brightness, and their absolute magnitude.

This helps us gauge the distance of objects out that far; but it turns out that the original theory about Cepheid stars was wrong (ones near us are apparently not the same type of Cepheid as ones farther from us) and so this one change totally rewrote our astronomical map. (Source 1.)

Do you think some young astronomer is going to sit back and not publish an observation that would totally rewire his field? No, the folks who know what they are doing won't do such a thing unless they're dead certain of their observation.

For further interest, see source (2.) - forget the math at this link, there's a neat chart here that depicts the methods used to determine intersteller distances, and the ranges at which they are used.

Hope this helps.

Answer 2

"We see the universe in the past, the light from our sun takes 8 minutes to get here, and objects beyond our solar system hundreds of thousands, to millions of years to get to earth."

And?

How can we be sure anything outside of the room/building/yard/city/state/etc. we are in really exists?

Answer to your and my questions: you can't. You trust your senses and your mind, or you don't.

Answer 3

How do you know the sun will be there 8 minutes from now?

You wouldn't know until the light was cut off.

Billions of years and no sign that the light was cut off from outside our solar system.

*8 Minutes later - DARKNESS*
Blink.....you remember to pay the power bill?

On a side note
Scientists have documented seeing light from the other side of the universe. (Extremely distorted into the red spectrum of light)

Answer 4

Because the objects outside the orbits of the planets in our solar system have been there for many billions of years. It's a safe assumption that they haven't suddenly vanished in the last 30 minutes.

Answer 5

If you take this logic to the extreme, then how can you be sure that you exist? After all, it takes time for the impulses to get from your eyes to your brain....

Say other stars don't exist. What would be the use of that statement? We can't really learn anything new if we start with that assumption. It might make a fun philosophy exercize, but that's about it.

Answer 6

we can't but the law of averages dictates that with a certain amount of stars, planets and systems (that we know of) there must be some logical assumption made that others exist out there. ours surely cannot be the only life sustaining planet in all of existence.

Answer 7

depends on your beliefs.....But...We do know that there is something out there....Just look up at the sky....Imagine how big the universe itself is...if it takes that long for the suns light to get here...Just think....if we do ever have anything to come heading towards us....we would know quite a bit of time before it ever hit!

Answer 8

How huge is our image voltaic equipment? significant question. what's image voltaic equipment. as a rule image voltaic equipment comprise sunlight and its planets. In certain equipment Definition , it incorporates many stuff. sunlight, image voltaic radiations, image voltaic power, image voltaic winds, comets, asteroids, great planets, small planets, sub planets, satellites, man made or cosmic bodies [any image voltaic orbiting bodies] and so on. to understand image voltaic equipment , we ought to get little understanding about the parental body of the sunlight. sunlight is likewise orbiting some parental cosmic critical entity, area of our own galaxy, like different stars are area of it. Now the decrease , the width, the diameter, the perfect peripheral area of the picture voltaic equipment? How huge that is? [a million] The detectable distance [round area] of radiation of image voltaic power or particle going faraway from the sunlight is the perfect decrease for image voltaic radiation. that is endless , on account that image voltaic radiation has no decrease to commute in deep area until eventually eventually it isn't objected / discharged. sunlight ought to seem as smallest shining celeb from one of those distance. [2] The detectable very last distant orbiting planet, asteroid, comets, sub planet, satellite tv for pc or any image voltaic orbiting Stellar body revolving around the sunlight is the area / boundary of the picture voltaic equipment. except for the prevalent image voltaic planets we ought to go back across many planets & stellar bodies revolving around the sunlight. [3] As in conserving with previous idea " the round decrease of Gravitational power " of the sunlight to maintain stellar bodies revolving around the sunlight. A.ok. Rathod