Alien Life, Coming Slowly Into View

danlisa · 03-29-11, 07:15 AM

Doesn't the active search for ET Life seem a little pointless?

Correct me if I'm wrong but I understand the following:

Signals we send out: These take an inordinate amount of time to reach anywhere, receiving a response would take double that. Within the transit time it's conceivable that the replying world would no longer exist by the time the signal reached us. This also applies to listening to space 'signals'.

Identifying habitable planets: Again, the time involved is mind boggling. We can ID a planet that's billions of light years away and say that's a possible earth clone but that image we captured has taken billions of years to reach us. The originating planet would now probably be a hunk of space rock.

What am I missing and how much funding is put to this?

03-29-11, 07:15 AM	#15
danlisa Navy Seal Join Date: Oct 2005 Location: Cornwall, UK Posts: 5,499 Downloads: 45 Uploads: 1	Doesn't the active search for ET Life seem a little pointless? Correct me if I'm wrong but I understand the following: Signals we send out: These take an inordinate amount of time to reach anywhere, receiving a response would take double that. Within the transit time it's conceivable that the replying world would no longer exist by the time the signal reached us. This also applies to listening to space 'signals'. Identifying habitable planets: Again, the time involved is mind boggling. We can ID a planet that's billions of light years away and say that's a possible earth clone but that image we captured has taken billions of years to reach us. The originating planet would now probably be a hunk of space rock. What am I missing and how much funding is put to this? __________________