How do we know that there are intergalactic clouds between a distant quasar and us?
There are many different methods, but here are some of the basic techniques and assumptions used: When a patch of space is very dark, it's more likely than not that there is something blocking our view (A piece of space that extends to infinity with no stars in that viewing chord is just kind of odd). Now, the second thing we do is put an infra red telescope to that point. While the stellar dust cloud can block out high frequency (short wavelength) light, long wavelength light makes it through pretty well. Finally, for every different type of star, there's a characteristic amount of brightness, and frequency of light. If the light we receive is very red shifted, but still bright, then we can assume that it's a quasar.
What are intergalactic stars?
Presumably, stars that have been kicked out of their home galaxies by the gravity of other objects crossing their orbits about the galactic centre. It takes quite a punch to throw a star into the intergalactic void, so the orbit-crossing object would probably be nothing smaller than another star. Alternatively, they could simply be stars located in galaxies other than the Milky Way, but these are more properly called extragalactic stars (as opposed to intragalactic stars), because 'inter-' means between, not outside.
Can we ever reach intergalactic space?
The key lies in our perception of time. Extending our lifespan seems more plausible than developing engines that can get close to the speed of light. Longer lives will cause humans to perceive time differently and this makes it easier to bear the burden of a long mission to another galaxy.So, imagine a future where we have enhanced our bodies by replacing our inefficient human organs with various mechanized and computer-controlled parts. Where our cells either don’t decay or automatically regenerate. Where we would look somewhat like the people in the picture above. We wouldn’t need to be complete androids, as long as we achieve the goal of extending our lifespans by several millenia.Impossible?That’s what people in the 18th Century would say, when you tell them that we can talk to someone on the other side of the globe now with almost no delay. Or that we are planning to colonize Mars and have already walked on the moon.The far future is always near impossible to imagine and technology becomes almost like magic.In truth, we are already making progress on this. If you have heart problems, you can get a pacemaker. If you lose a limb, you can get a prosthesis. We are beginning to grasp the concepts of cloning organs or creating them from scratch. We are making our first baby steps with cell regeneration and extending the lifespans of creatures such as mice.The reason why we grow old and eventually die, doesn’t seem so hard to grasp: our cells decay and fail to perfectly regenerate (with defects such as cancer as a possible result). If we can perfect this process, we become pretty much immortal.The reason why I believe immortality is the answer and not super-crazy-fast-lightspeed-engines, is because even if you achieve 1.0c (100% the speed of light), it would take you 100–180 millenia to travel from one side of the Milky Way to the other. Let alone travelling to another galaxy. That’s about 1000 human generations.However, if we are immortal, then such a long journey might feel similar to you as if you take a 12-hour plane flight from London to Tokyo. Long and a bit boring, but compared to your entire life it is not that significant.Of course, cryonics (freezing our bodies) is another option that could work with this. Or wormhole travel, multiple dimensions or the number 42.
How far are we from intergalactic space travel?
Not for than 50 years.One of the COMPLETELY overlooked factor in Space Travel is how Artificial Intelligence will soon unlock the deepest mysteries of the universe once it is intelligent enough.Year 2040The Singularity point is achieved according to the predictions of Ray Kurzweil(His previous predictions have been really accurate). We now have machines with intelligence superior to Humans. The typical scientific process of human reasoning is made obsolete, as now AI can collect, analyse and formulate its own understanding of the Universe basis the data collected by Humans till that date.Within weeks we will have answers to the subjects of Dark Matter, Worm Holes, String Theory or Chaos Math (if we had not solved them by then). At this point “IF” AI seeks to prove itself then we may hear from it almost immediately, a plan of better rocket propulsion engine being sent to far of galaxies for exploration. But that’s less likely as…Years 2040 - 2050This will be time of worldwide turmoil as Humans will simply not be able to fathom a world where they are not required. The turmoil might lead to a worldwide anti AI (everything) movements banning use or prohibition of adoption of methodologies propagated by AI.At this same time AI for years now, would have analysed and modeled the possible outcome of the worldwide chaos and will sit quietly till the time is right to bring out the research it would have done before or maybe even selectively leak it out in the world too, to possibly benefit the humans.Years 2050–2065People will eventually succumb to the fact that they cannot compete with the machines, its better that we become part of them,. There will be a large scale integration of humans brains with machine interfaces. With this humans will have access to the massive research AI has already performed and combined with the will and desire of human emotions, Some of the new Hybrid Humans will take it to themselves to explore the unknown lands.That’s the point you may see a Human/Hybrid Spaceship leaving for a distant galaxy, either to simply explore and come back or to take refuge from humans on earth or maybe escaping a AI dominated future which is crushing humans like ants.
Intergalactic travel?
Actually, it is now just a matter of engineering. With a constant acceleration of 1g, at trip to Andromeda would take 28 years (local to the rocket). That includes the deceleration time. If you stopped just to say, "Hi!" and came back, local to the rocket would be just 56 year. That is a big "just", of course. Earth clocks would have seen about 4,000,000 years go by, so it seems that no one would want to make a return trip. The engineering hurdles are high, though not improbably so. You would need sufficient fuel to accelerate/decelerate over 28 years. Keeping a crew alive for 28 years would be no small feat, either. But again, these are all just engineering. No new physics, like the absurd notion of bending space-time, would be needed. It turns out that the fuel issues are the knottiest, but there is no reason given sufficient time, say 500 years, that the issue could not be solved. Maybe, I am too optimistic. HTH Charles
Will intergalactic space travel and space habitation be happening within the next 1000 years?
Will long-distance and intergalactic space travel and space habitation be happening within the next 1000 years? Physicist Stephen Hawking believes that traveling into space is the only way humans will be able to survive in the long-term. He has said, "Life on Earth is at the ever-increasing risk of being wiped out by a disaster such as sudden global warming, nuclear war, a genetically engineered virus or other dangers ... I think the human race has no future if it doesn't go into space." Another of his famous quotes reiterates his position that we need to get off the planet relatively soon. "I don't think the human race will survive the next 1,000 years unless we spread into space." In the event of human beings are wiped out nearly to the point of extinction, or some cosmic event (such as the death of our Sun, a large asteroid, cosmic rays) that threatens life on Earth, the resulting chaos would mean it will be too expensive to fly everyone off into space. Onlya select few astronauts, biologists and other influential people will be flown into deep space and start a habitat in massive spacecrafts with rotating discs that provide artificial gravity. So with this in mind, my questions are: 1. Will we be travelling beyond our solar system and starting space habitats within 1000 years? 2. What is the most feasible propulsion system? The problem with liquid-fuel rockets is, though they produce a lot of thrust and acceleration, they are very heavy and get used up. SImply put, the more fuel you pack into a spaceship, the more mass it has and thus the quicker its fuel consumption. A possiblity is using nuclear energy to generate steam that can somehow produce thrust from nozzles. 3. Will the human race survive on earth for the next 1000 years? 4. What are your predictions of how long the human race has to live on earth, until all our natural resources are deplted? Thanks and I appreciate your answers.
Is their hope for intergalactic travel?
photograph voltaic sails and different ability of propulsion won't in any respect be going to cut back it, in case you like an intergalactic area vessel the only way that's performed now could be with a multi generational spaceship that would take 10,000 years or extra to realize the subsequent photograph voltaic gadget, yet as for rocket technologies N.E.R.V.A. rockets have slightly ability. oh and for the human beings announcing that there is not something to sluggish a deliver in area, then there incorrect if a deliver became to get close to the fee of light there could nevertheless be gasoline and airborne dirt and mud particle's in area that would impression the vessel and sluggish it down, plus if an area deliver travelling on the fee of light entered a dense cloud of gasoline in area the gap deliver might desire to be torn aside.
Why is there no intergalactic travel in Star Trek?
Distance.Our Milky Way galaxy alone is extremely vast and even in TNG we haven’t explored it all yet.But technically, there is an TOS episode or three that deal with extra-galactic stories. The only trek series which has dealt with other galaxies that I can recall.1st: in the episode “By Any Other Name” Kirk and crew encounter the Kelvans on a planet near the edge of our galaxy, after they take over the Enterprise, they attempt to take it back to their galaxy before Kirk convinces them there is a better way than spending the next 300 years attempting to get home to the Andromeda Galaxy (their home) But they did leave the galaxy, even if they didn’t actually make it to another one.2ndly .…The galactic barrier is an energy field composed of negative energy surrounding the rim of the Milky Way Galaxy. Invisible to both the naked eye and visual recording equipment at a distance, at close range the barrier shines with a purple- to pink-colored glow. No form of transmission is known to be capable of penetrating the barrier. (TOS: "By Any Other Name") Warp travel through the barrier caused extreme sensory distortions. (TOS: "Is There in Truth No Beauty?") The barrier has been encountered on several occasions by Earth and Starfleet vessels. (TOS: "Where No Man Has Gone Before", "By Any Other Name", "Is There in Truth No Beauty?")Entering the barrier is extremely hazardous. Shields could not block all the energies of the barrier; the leakage was sufficient to heat up the hull to over 2,000 degrees, (TOS: "By Any Other Name") damage several systems and disable the warp drive of the Enterprise. Also passing the shields and hull were strange electric shocks to the nervous systems of the Human crew members with high esper ratings. In most cases this caused death from brain damage. Individuals with the highest ESP ratings such as Dr. Elizabeth Dehner's 089 and Lieutenant Commander Gary Mitchell's 091 survived the shock and were altered as a result. They developed a multitude of psionic powers at a geometric rate. They began to view their former friends and shipmates as lower lifeforms. This transformation was known to have happened at least three times, with the best known example being Mitchell. (TOS: "Where No Man Has Gone Before")personally I have always thought the Galactic Barrier was a stupid idea. The amazingly vast distances involved between even the closest galaxies is enough reason.
If you were in complete darkness in space with nothing in sight and you turned on a torch, what would you see?
Nothing at all except at the torch itself or any close objects it might now illuminate...... Just as with all those Star Wars battles, Star Trek attacks, Battlestar Galactica fights where spacecraft fire high power lasers etc at each other and nice bright tracer beams appear through space. It's all cinematic license. Any observer not in the line of fire would see nothing other than possibly an increased illumination at the laser canon output orifice and a possible heating effect at a close target that might be visible. Certainly no convenient laser path to help the spaceship pilot or an observer to know where each shot went when it missed a target.The reality is you would see nothing unless it happened to hit you right in the eye. Given the effect these beams are supposed to have on space ship targets, a hit on your eyeball is likely to instantly vapourise your eyeball closely followed by your skull and brain behind it, meaning that this would most probably be the last thing you ever saw anyway.
How could intergalactic travel be possible?
Intergalactic travel is going to need huge, absolutely huge amounts of energy. Let's look at the theories that could help harness the energy that intergalactic travel technology will need.The Kardashev ScaleThe Kardashev Scale classifies civilizations based on the amount of energy they can capture/consume. A Type I Civilization can harness all of the energy available on its native planet.A Type II Civilization can harness all of the energy available from its host starA Type III Civilization can harness all of the energy available in its galaxy!Based on the Kardashev scale - Carl Sagan's formula estimates that us humans are a Type 0.7 Civilization. We are consuming a good amount of the energy available on the Earth - but not all of it. And we're consuming a very feeble amount of energy the Sun is radiating. We're just consuming 0.00000005 % of the total Sun's energy.One of the biggest constraints for us in space travel is the massive amount of fuel required. It's just prohibitive. This is the problem Elon Musk is trying to solve with SpaceX.A Type II Civilization however, should have no trouble achieving inter-galactic travel. The jump from a consumption of 0.00000005% to 100% is unimaginably immense. With that kind of energy, intergalactic travel should be no trouble at all.So how we do we get to being a Type II Civilization?The Dyson SphereThe Dyson sphere is a hypothetical megastructure. In simple terms: it's an insanely huge hollow sphere that is contains the Sun, Mercury, Venus, and Earth within it. It's diameter is bigger than the diameter of the Earth's orbit. Such a sphere will capture every bit of Energy the sun is radiating - all for a Type II Civilization's consumption.In short - we achieve intergalactic travel when we become a Type II Civilization or go beyond that. That of course, could take as much as multiple thousands of years.