Starship Asterisk*

Pardon my ignorance and my noob-ness. But I've got a question that I've asked on other boards and cannot seem to get an answer to. It's a simple question, really, but no one seems to be able to answer it:

If a galaxy is 100 light years across then, travelling at the speed of light, would it take 100 years to go from one side to the other?

There. Simple question really. The implications of which are huge, IMO. If this is true then how can we ever hope to explore our own galaxy, much less cross the interstellar gulfs?

Yes, I do hope someone will answer those questions some day.

But, apparently no one wants to discuss anything that has to do with faster than light speed, or it's potential possibility. Everyone wants you to just accept the standard of the theory that it is not possible to travel faster than light. Oh, and have a nice day.

Myself on the other hand, well, I do live aboard a boat that concrete engineers said was impossible to build ten years ago. My advice is to never accept the defeatist attitude when your attitude is one of exploration of potentials. There will always be "another way" that
hasn't been tried because of someone saying that it can't be done. This isn't a ball game, three strikes and your still not out, keep looking and questioning.

In the mean time we can still look at pretty pictures from their dying light.

Norval

It's strange, there was long thread about this in Cafe, and I was going to redirect this one there, and lock it, but it's missing now. Prior to it, two other threads were killed entirely without notification of participants or whatsoever. I suspect that our threadkiller is Matt Merlo, Cafe moderator. But, since actual threadkiller does not leave any evidence, I can't prove it (it can be anyone of admins, too). Funny, there was a time when people could discuss anything the way they wanned in Cafe without me being able to lock their threads. Now, APOD forum seem to be safer place

Fortunately, it is only the interpretation of a theory that dictates faster than light travel to be impossible. It is my personal belief that we will one day conquer that threshold, though not in my lifetime. I used to think that only light was ruled by that speed but several published experiments disspells that notion.

Our galaxy is 70,000 light years across and light takes 70,000 years to cross it. ( I think you dropped a few "000's")

craterchains wrote: But, apparently no one wants to discuss anything that has to do with faster than light speed, or it's potential possibility. Everyone wants you to just accept the standard of the theory that it is not possible to travel faster than light. Oh, and have a nice day.

Norval

Star Wars and Star Trek are just too cool to be wrong!

Star Wars and Star Trek are just too cool to be wrong!

Especially since Star Trek like Force Fields are now a reality!

While trying not to sound so "politicaly incorrect", I offer some more thought.

Mankind has no choice when it comes to discovering how to go much faster than light. That is IF we want to get off this pretty blue marble.

With the comprehension of just how big our universe of hundreds of billions of galaxies is comes the obvious need for speed by which to allow mankind to achieve speeds of SPH and possibly GPH. (Star systems Per Hour, and Galaxies Per Hour).

Mankind has always come through in learning and the application of physics FACTS.
Why not again?

Norval

William Roeder wrote:

Star Wars and Star Trek are just too cool to be wrong!

Especially since Star Trek like Force Fields are now a reality!

I don't think I would want to hang out close to a plasma beam.

I'm not a Trek Head or a Treky but here is the basics on Star Trek's version of Warp Drive if any one cares.
On a sheet of paper draw two dots, one at each end of the paper. The shortest distance is a straight line, right? Now put a thumb on each dot and bring your thumbs closer together. The paper bends or warps and the two dots are now closer.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/364496.stm

Here's a good read on a more practical version of the theory.

They even have Scotties "Transparent Aluminum"
http://www.af.mil/news/story.asp?id=123012131

Yeah, but what about hot, green ladies?

That was Kirk’s trophy, not Scotty’s. I don't recall Scotty getting any action.



Back to the subject at hand, one way to test the theory of worm hole travel would be to observe a massive object fall into a black hole then meassure the energy released and the gain in mass of the black hole, if conservation of mass and energy are not equal we could be going for a ride.

Just send a "solar sail" ship through it. (Can I make a suggestion as to the pilot?)


I hope we can devise a different way to test the theory of using a black hole, we may have to wait for an object to fall in for a long time.

Norval

craterchains wrote:Just send a "solar sail" ship through it. (Can I make a suggestion as to the pilot?)

Norval

Zing!

going to left field with this one... and perhaps off the field...

What if we are thinking about this question the wrong way? what if our bodies don't have to go through with going 100 light years in order to travel that distance. When it comes down to it, how do we prove to ourselves that we actually ran the boston marathon, or that we actually went to the bar for that one last drink? its our self consciousness isn't it? our brain tells us we did because our 5 senses told us we did. So who isn't to say we can send our 5 senses across that 100 light year distance, forget the body, forget the aging, just send our mind via A.I... The emerging technology on making synoptic pathways with microchips can help us travel far and experience the exploration without ever leaving. when it comes back, we just plug in and download... I know, left field stuff here. If we are going to travel out of our galaxy and explore the galaxy then its not going to happen with our current "state of consciousness" AKA the brain, but perhaps with a newer "brain", new body, etc. ok, trekie fans, here is your chance, lol.

That's what was called Astral Projection, or Remote Viewing nowa days.

Sorry, I want to be able to take my beer with me.

Norval

craterchains wrote:That's what was called Astral Projection, or Remote Viewing nowa days.

Sorry, I want to be able to take my beer with me.

Norval

No beer, no deep space missions! It would have to be part of my salary! 8)

Travelling greater than the speed of light is probable.
Like sound waves travelling through the air, man has found ways to use the medium and travel much faster. Same with space as soon as man gets to understands the medium than there is no stopping of man travelling much faster than the speed of light. The limit is determined by mans knowledge.
Foget about travelling in worm holes and blackholes, this only occurs in comics and movies.
So for now if a galaxy is 100 light years across and if you were able to travell at the speed of light it will take you 100 years.

harry wrote:So for now if a galaxy is 100 light years across and if you were able to travell at the speed of light it will take you 100 years.

!00 years, for who? What about relativity?

that's a very small galaxy.....

A globular cluster maybe! 8)

What's the fastest speed mankind has reached in space so far?

Just kind of curious.

The NASA-German Helios 1 and 2 solar probes reached 252,800 km/h (158,000 mph) during their orbits of the Sun. The two spacecraft, which were launched in 1974 and 1976, were German probes designed to orbit the Sun. They were launched by Titan 3E rockets from Cape Canaveral, Florida, USA on December 10, 1974 and January 15, 1976 and weighed 373 and 376 kg respectively.

The fastest human flight was the Apollo 13 flight at 26,000 mph.

hmmmm thanks man,,, wow,,, hmmmmm , grins.

Big smiles at S Bilderback

Norval

158,000 mph, I sure would not want to pay that ticket.

That is also 70,000 m/sec or 0.0000000043% the speed of light

Have you ever wanted to calculate the speed of light yourself? Try this, all you need is a microwave oven and a chocolate bar - it works! "Well - Kinda"

http://physics.about.com/cs/opticsexper ... 290903.htm

craterchains wrote:What's the fastest speed mankind has reached in space so far?

Nobody read old posts Having a hard time to imagine something orbiting the sun to move faster than some other thing escaping solar system. Well, perhaps it is because of lower orbit?