Saturday Night

Saturday night. Most people are out socializing. Or at least at home, in the warmth, watching a movie, reading a book. But here I am taking photos of a tree out in the middle of the bush. I will admit, the odd thought of a disfigured, murderous half human half demon creature prowling the night did cross my mind, more then once. Creatures aside, it was a peaceful experience, up on a hill, taking photos of the stars in the calm of the night. The city behind me, streets lights glowing, cars driving, people going about their lives. It provides for an interesting perspective, not only of the city, but of the world.

From a quick Google search on my slow internet connection I discovered that there are estimated to be between 50 to 200 billion galaxies in the universe. Each galaxy has around 100 billion stars and 2 billions planets. We live in one galaxy, called the Milky way. So, potentially, the total number of planets out there is 2 billion times 200 billion... I just hurt my brain. We live on one of these planets. Surely there is another one out there with the right conditions, such as atmosphere and temperature, to create the perfect stew for life. The USA launched a space probe into space in 1977, called Voyager (there are actually two of them), it is now some 17 403 258 600 km from earth. Voyager is so far from earth, it is now approaching the outer reaches of the Sun's influence...which I think means it is reaching the edge of our galaxy. These rocket scientists were aware of the likelihood of life existing on another planet. This is from the Voyager website: "Both Voyager spacecrafts carry a greeting to any form of life, should that be encountered. The message is carried by a phonograph record - -a 12-inch gold-plated copper disk containing sounds and images selected to portray the diversity of life and culture on Earth." Anyway, that's it for Science Sunday, until next week.