where u @ aliens

Stuff like this always really saddens me that I will never actually be able to explore it

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MAW2lygZC_4

My favorite part of the picture is when you zoom all the way in so you can see each individual star. Gives you an amazing sense of scale.

u are exploring it right now from your personal computer in this video! :)

I watched the video and read some articles, but I'm curious: Where in this video does it show that there is life? I must be missing something.

i love space

if space is infinite[which it is], then there must be some place that replicated our "big bang" and made life, we just dont know where to look yet.

Yeah basically, it's not a fact that there is alien life yet, but because the chances are so high that it's kind of seen as one

When you zoom in, you can see every single star, with space in between them. A lot of these stars have their own set of planets, their own solar system if you will. With all of these stars, and all of these planets, the chance of all of the conditions for life being upheld is very high.

A lovely photo. I'm envious that I'll never have nowhere near what's necessary to take such a picture; much more accurately, the photos necessary to merge into the end result.

I have had this picture of the Andromeda galaxy as my desktop background for almost a year now:
http://imgur.com/49UoJRR

Don't worry Bonafide, in about 4 billion years, the atoms which comprise your body will be *in* some part of Andromeda as the Milky Way and Andromeda are expected to collide in ~4 billion years! :D

Fun Fact: The resulting galaxy will be called "Milkdromeda"

Looking forward to it

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/7/7a/Futurama_nixons_head.png

M I L K D R O M E D A
edit: nvm got sniped

Thanks for sharing

http://i3.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/000/875/511/a69.png

This may be slightly off-topic, but still worth posting:

If any of you are interested, there are places on earth where local authorities and residents have made a commitment to reduce light pollution and maintain it for the foreseeable future. They are called Dark Sky Reserves and you can read more about them here. On still-air, moonless nights, you can see the disc of stars that is our Milky Way galaxy with the naked eye in these places, as a band in the night sky; and many other objects, of course.

If you feel any sort of connection with the night sky and our distant surroundings, I can not recommend enough that you visit one of these places at least once in your lifetime. It is one thing looking at pictures or working with a computer telescope, but a different matter entirely to see it directly with your own eyes and perhaps a cheap, simple telescope. You will be surrounded and part of it all, as it were. It's a completely different experience which I hope some of you will not only try, but also enjoy and share with others.

Another place great for stargazing and many more otherworldly experiences is the Atacama high plateau, for the most part located in Chile. If you ever have the chance to go there, grab it. Though you might want to ensure at least some level of physical fitness if you want to fully enjoy it!

I hope this helps someone have an amazing, inspirational, relativistic time.

I knew you were going to post this :)

However there is still a lot of undiscoverd areas in the world, which if I ever get the chance would gladly explore

It's so weird how commonplace space is. Like we're sending people into space on the shuttles and ISS to learn things previously unknown, and that's just how my generation has grown up. But when you really think about it, there's infinite possibilities of what's out there and even with the technology we have we can't even a fraction of deep space and what it has in store for us. Kinda crazy tbh

There's one like 4 hours from where I live, and since I'm getting close to owning my own car I'll probably visit one of those dark sites next year like I've been planning. I'm sure it'll be one of the best things I'll get to witness in life.

i kinda hope there is not life elsewhere, makes us that much more special

#20 in California I found a spot like that in Death Valley when there was no moon out. It was so dark that I literally could not see my hand in front of my face, but the view of the stars was amazing.

wtf is the point of being special if yr the only one who can enjoy it ?

I cant see shit out here because of the humidity but the ISS passes over head a few times a week at ~6 AM so that's at least nice.

Death Valley is one of the listed Dark Sky Parks, indeed. There are a few of them in the USA, seeing as you have quite vast national parks there.

For anyone else wondering if they're near a good place, you can find recognised reserves, parks and communities on the left side-bar here. The reserves are the most dedicated to low light pollution, but the parks are essentially naturally devoid of light pollution because they're far away from civilisation. As Mr Slin empirically confirmed, they are no less amazing places to visit. Have a look-see if there is one near you if you're interested. A lot of the Dark Sky Communities are near national parks and have all sorts of activities going on around astronomical events such as solstices and equinoxes, including night-time guided tours out in the parks.