are we the only ones in our galaxy?

Answer 1

if there can be life in this galaxy then why not the other galaxies? scientists have recieved replys from outer space

Answer 2

No one knows.

But most probably yes. All life as we know it is based on liquid water and carbon.

The planet earth is very unusual, in that it orbits at precisely the correct distance from a single star for oceans of liquid water to exist.

So to duplicate earth elsewhere would require a lot of improbable events:

1. Elements created in stars already burned out that were in the vicinity when the sun ignited.

2. Creation of a solar system with a single small star emitting light in the visible spectrum.

3. Accretion of matter at just the right distance from the sun, that includes lots of iron, followed by a collision with a mars-sized object to create the moon.

4. Enough mass to hold an atmosphere that shields from ultraviolet light.

5. A magnetic field to shield the surface from solar particles.

6. A tilted axis of rotation, and a very large single moon that stabilizes this tilt. The moon also creates tides that are likely important.

7. An elliptic orbit around the sun that is almost circular, which keeps temperatures within a very narrow range.

8. Any other planets in the solar system not large enough to ignite into a star (Jupiter is just short of the mass needed to be a star).

Of the 4.5 billion years the earth has been in existence, there is one (1) species only that could observe and communicate with other life in the galaxy via radio waves. And this capability has only existed for approx. 100 years.

Our Milky Way galaxy may have approx. 200 billion stars. If earth is a one in a billion occurence, that leaves 200 possible stars.

The probability of intelligent life arising on one of these 200 stars AND broadcasting radio waves the same time we do ... is negligible.

So yes, we are alone.

Answer 3

Assuming you mean life form, no! We would be supremely arrogant to assume that we are. Even though we have not yet contacted any other "life", the conditions for the creation of life exist in our solar system and it would be naive, indeed foolish, to think that these conditions do not exist anywhere else in the Galaxy.

Whether these "others", are as technologically developed as us, or indeed better developed is a matter of conjecture. It has taken mankind over 4 million years to develop as far as we have as a species. The technology we have is really only a few thousand years old. Other species on other planets may develop at different rates, slower or faster, meaning that they may indeed have come into existence and gone out of existence long before Planet Earth ever existed, or indeed be crawling from some sort of primordial slime as we communicate.

Have we been visited by "aliens"? Who knows? What would they find interesting about an obscure little planet at the western end of one of the spiral arms of our galaxy? Again, who knows, your guess is as good as mine?

Answer 4

Chances are that we are not. The only ones who could answer that question correctly would be aliens from another planet in our galaxy. There are billions of stars in our galaxy and many that have planets. They may not all be inhabited, but we would be very arrogant to think that we were the "chosen" planet for the only life in our galaxy. There is no evidence to support my opinion that there is life elsewhere, but probability dictates that we must keep an open mind.

Answer 5

Whoever answers yes or no is an idiot. Sorry.

We have no idea whatsoever whether or not there is other life within our galaxy. We have no evidence to suggest there is, and no evidence that suggests there isn't.

All we can go on is the balance of probabilities. It is more likely that there is other life out there than that there isn't. It's frustrating, but at the moment, that's all we have.

Personally, I find it hard to believe that a galaxy with up to 400 billion stars only has one tiny little planet with life on.

Answer 6

We're probably the only sentient beings in our solar system, although even that isn't known for sure. But our galaxy, at the last count, contains some 200 billion stars, most of which have several orbiting planets. If just one-thousandth of one per cent of those planets are capable of sustaining life, the odds of there being some form of sentient life out there are very high. Though they've probably got better things to do than come visiting us.

And then, of course, there are the upwards of 100 billion other galaxies so far counted, many of them far larger than ours....

Answer 7

The Drake Equation gives us a number [Ref Link 1], unfortunately a lot of the component elements of the equation are unknown or very uncertain.

Link 1 will let you actually have a go at calcualting N (the number of intelligent civilisations in out Galaxy at any one moment) using the Drake Equation..

My understanding is that the number for N is currently believed to be around 10,000 - pretty busy.

Answer 8

In all likelihood we are not the only life in our galaxy. What form the other life may take is unknown. It may or may not resemble the life on earth. The sun and planets in our solar system make up only a small fraction of the galaxy which we know practically nothing about.

Answer 9

Most likely not. The galaxy is far too big to only have one planet with life on it.

Answer 10

If you can believe what you see on television.
Recently I watched a program about this subject. There was a commentary about a discussion that contained a comment from a woman astronaut about a dialog between one of our shuttles and an alien space craft which she said was" alongside our space vehicle". The comment was terminated by the ground controller, but not before she made the slip that couldn't be verified. (No one will admit it)
Does that answer your question?

Answer 11

The chances are that we're not as there are billions of stars (like our sun) in our galaxy.If only a hundredth of those had planets around them and a thousandth of those had a planet that could maintain life as we know it..the odds would still be very high.The problem is that the CLOSEST star to us is so far away that even light takes years to reach there so space travel there is impossible.We will never know for sure if my theory is correct.