Hello...is any body there?

[Speedbird-1]

Another great Hubble photo' on the NASA site.

Surely we can't be alone, out here?

The densely packed globular cluster NGC 6325 glistens in this image from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope. This concentrated group of stars lies around 26,000 light-years from Earth in the constellation Ophiuchus.

Globular clusters like NGC 6325 are tightly bound collections of stars with anywhere from tens of thousands to millions of members. They can be found in all types of galaxies and act as natural laboratories for astronomers studying star formation. This is because the constituent stars of globular clusters tend to form at roughly the same time and with similar initial composition, meaning astronomers can use them to fine-tune their theories of how stars evolve.

Astronomers inspected this particular cluster not to understand star formation, but to search for a hidden monster. Though it might look peaceful, astronomers suspect this cluster could contain an intermediate-mass black hole that is subtly affecting the motion of surrounding stars. Previous research found that the distribution of stars in some highly concentrated globular clusters – those with stars packed relatively tightly together – was slightly different from what astronomers expected.

This discrepancy suggests that at least some of these densely packed globular clusters – including perhaps NGC 6325 – could have a black hole lurking at the center. To explore this hypothesis further, astronomers turned to Hubble’s Wide Field Camera 3 to observe a larger sample of densely populated globular clusters, which included this star-studded image of NGC 6325. Additional data from Hubble’s Advanced Camera for Surveys was also incorporated into this image.

Text credit: European Space Agency (ESA)
Image credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, E. Noyola, R. Cohen

[brandrea]

Truly incredible Steve.

There’s got to be something else that lives

[Kreyzhorse]

I don't believe we are "alone" for sure. Too much wasted space otherwise. I do question how anyone could show up for "visit" though. The distance is so vast.... unless smarter folks than I have it all wrong.

[rootbeer7]

Fascinating image. My brain certainly can’t compute the size of this image.

[Krash]

The observable universe is 94 billion light years in size. There are at least 200 billion galaxies, maybe more. On average, each galaxy has billions and billions of stars and planets. Just seems highly unlikely to me that we’re all alone.


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[RW16610]

Amazing!

[AzPaul]

If we're not alone, I hope they bring beer.

[JasoninDenver]

Science makes my brain hurt. This explanation helps.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=buqtdpuZxvk

[superdog]

what an incredible shot.

and yes, I think we are no doubt, not alone. cannot be possible with all this space.

pretty egocentric to think we are the only ones.

[REQUIEMnJADED4U]

The real question is will there be definitive proof of life out there in our lifetime?

[airchitect]

Originally Posted by superdog

what an incredible shot.

and yes, I think we are no doubt, not alone. cannot be possible with all this space.

pretty egocentric to think we are the only ones.

Therein lies the problem. We as people are horribly egocentric…. To most people the earth is ours and nothing else on it matters.

Oh and there’s no way we are alone. I’d guess there are both planets far more advanced than us and many far less… amazing to think there may be a planet covered in cities and another with something like dinosaurs roaming and yet another with “people” like creatures in some sort of Middle Ages….. it’s pretty crazy.


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[enjoythemusic]

...just nod if you can hear me.
Is there anyone home?

[Dragline]

Estimated 2 trillion galaxies in the visible universe=2000 billion galaxies. Each galaxy has around 400 billion stars in it. Light takes 100,000 years to cross one galaxy. Big numbers would suggest the probability of all kinds of life out there. And very little chance of finding us on our blue marble.