10.7 Billion Year-Old Spiral Galaxy Stuns Astronomers

[damngrumpy]

The space race provided us with so many inventions the biggest since the events of WWII.
The spin off alone are worth trillions. Many inventions we give little thought to could likely
be traced back to the development of the space race itself. We need to expand our whole
economy and pick up the challenge again

 

[L Gilbert]

Nature has it wrong. The galaxy is not 10.5 billion years old. It is 10.5 billion light-years away and is about 3 billion years old. http://di.utoronto.ca/~drlaw/DistantSpiral/

 

[Niflmir]

Seriously start think of time, time as in how long to travel to the closest galaxy, Andromeda.

It's about 2.5 million light years away, which means it's a 2.5 million year trip if you could travel the speed of light. Our galaxy (Milky Way) is on a collision course with it. The collision will happen in about 4 billion years...

NASA - NASA's Hubble Shows Milky Way is Destined for Head-On Collision

Careful. It is a 0 second trip if you travel at the speed of light. True, your friends on Earth would have died 2.5 million years ago, but relativistic time dilation will preserve your life if you travel fast enough. In principle you must travel slower than the speed of light, so you will age some amount which depends on your speed but your friends on Earth will age much more.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twin_paradox

 

[Bar Sinister]

The space race provided us with so many inventions the biggest since the events of WWII.
The spin off alone are worth trillions. Many inventions we give little thought to could likely
be traced back to the development of the space race itself. We need to expand our whole
economy and pick up the challenge again

Right. An interesting question is how much profit did Columbus' first voyage of exploration make for Spain? Of for that matter how much profit did the voyage of Diaz make for Portugal or Cabot make for England? There are enormous hurdles to overcome before extraterrestial economic development becomes profitable, but it is theoretically possible.

The answer to my question about the early explorers BTW is: Nothing.

 

[beaker]

Right. An interesting question is how much profit did Columbus' first voyage of exploration make for Spain? Of for that matter how much profit did the voyage of Diaz make for Portugal or Cabot make for England? There are enormous hurdles to overcome before extraterrestial economic development becomes profitable, but it is theoretically possible.

The answer to my question about the early explorers BTW is: Nothing.

Justification of the expense is the major hurdle that I see. When the financial system seems to be going through crisis after crisis, where does money come from for new development? Queen Isabella mortgaged her crown jewels to finance colombus, Maybe people would pay if our queens grandson were to promie to keep his hidden.

Back to the point though where should money go? Towards continued telescopic examination until we find something that really galvanizes us to action? A continued slow buildup of the space station until it can be self sufficient? that is my favourite, but development of faster, stronger, interplanetary craft? What do you say?

 

[dumpthemonarchy]

Well I am right into space.. I think we already should have had a lunar colony, and failing that may be our downfall.

Solar Power from the Moon's "Peaks of Eternal Light"

We need a Moon base ASAP, I don't know what we're wating for. It would be the greatest construction project in history, ever, and for ever. The tech to get there is old and we would get so much new tech living on the Moon.