> I'm looking forward to the day we start finding exo-planets that are closer to Earth in size and which could potentially have space-faring races (and which we could leave if we were ever to visit them).
I just realized I have no real concept of how many stars there even are within, say, a 100 light year radius of our sun (I guess that's a more realistic thing to find out than the number of planets).
A quick search provided some estimates and they're kinda... disappointingly low, at around 20000 stars. That's a number where some "1% of 1% of 1%" kinda filter quickly ends up in a scenario where a planet fitting all our criteria might simply never be in reach. For something more "realistic" (I know, heh!) like 20 light years, there are only 150 solar systems. I've seen different numbers and have no idea how they're calculated but for the usual astronomic scales which quickly go into "billions" territory, it seems we're kinda stuck with a comparably small list of candidates.
> That's a number where some "1% of 1% of 1%" kinda filter quickly ends up in a scenario where a planet fitting all our criteria might simply never be in reach.
It might cheer you up to think that's the only reason the human race happens to be the one in our neighborhood that made it into space, without being stepped on by an Old One.
On the plus side there are more moons than planets and many of them may be habitable. We've barely started looking at extra solar Jupiter like planets because of the much longer orbital periods.
I think people are beginning to realize, that just as there are more asteroids than planets, and more space junk than large asteroids, there are a lot more free floating planets than stars.
It could well be the universe is filled with life, but the dominant mode is underground chemo/radiotrophic microbes on planets without stars.
I just realized I have no real concept of how many stars there even are within, say, a 100 light year radius of our sun (I guess that's a more realistic thing to find out than the number of planets).
A quick search provided some estimates and they're kinda... disappointingly low, at around 20000 stars. That's a number where some "1% of 1% of 1%" kinda filter quickly ends up in a scenario where a planet fitting all our criteria might simply never be in reach. For something more "realistic" (I know, heh!) like 20 light years, there are only 150 solar systems. I've seen different numbers and have no idea how they're calculated but for the usual astronomic scales which quickly go into "billions" territory, it seems we're kinda stuck with a comparably small list of candidates.