Frank Drake And The Search For Life On Other Planets
September 18, 2022 at 9:01 p.m.
By Max [email protected]
In terms of numbers, there may be more than 400 billion galaxies, each containing perhaps 100 billion stars, along with them probably hundreds of billions of planets, and many long lost civilizations. With distance, it has been estimated that the edge of the observable universe is about 270,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 miles away. In driving time should that be possible at a steady 65 miles per hour, it will take you 480,000,000,000,000,000 — that’s 4.8 × 10¹7 — years to get there, or 35 million times the current age of the universe. It’s going to be a very long drive, and the scenery won’t change much at all.
Most of the visible stars will burn out before you even exit the Milky Way galaxy. If you want to try touching a room-temperature star, the New York Times suggest planning a route that takes you past Kepler-1606. It’s 2,800 light-years away, so when you drive past it after 30 billion years, it will have cooled to a comfortable room temperature.
Are We Alone?
With these astronomical numbers one would think that we here on Earth are surely not alone. Millions of us have asked at one time or another, “Is anyone out there?”
The search for alien civilizations is ever present. Perhaps no one was more involved in that question than Frank Drake. He passed away last week at the age of 92. As reported by the New York Times, Drake led the search for life on other planets. He first pointed a radio telescope at a pair of stars in 1960 hoping to find alien civilizations and thus kindled a continuing endeavor called for Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence, or SETI.
Among his achievements was the development of the Drake Equation, which continues to be used to estimate the number of advanced civilizations in the galaxy. He never wavered in his belief that if humans waited long enough and searched hard enough, they would bridge the vast gaps between the stars with radio waves.
In his book “Intelligent Live in Space,” published in 1962, he wrote: “At this very minute, with almost absolute certainty, radio waves sent forth by other intelligent civilizations are falling on the earth. A telescope can be built that, pointed in the right place and tuned to right frequency, could discover these waves. Someday, from somewhere out among the stars, will come answers to many of the oldest, most important and most exciting questions mankind has asked.”
Aspirations
At one time, Dr. Drake confidently asserted that humans would come in contact with extraterrestrials in his own lifetime. In recent years, however, he acknowledged that he might not live to see contact made, emphasizing that with 100 billion stars and planets in the galaxy, the search had only just begun.
Biography
Frank Donald Drake was born in Chicago on May 28, 1930, the oldest of three children. His father, Richard was a chemical engineer, and his mother, Winnifred (Thompson) Drake, was a music teacher.
After three years as the electronics officer on a Navy cruiser, the USS Albany, Dr. Drake entered Harvard’s graduate school and left with a master’s degree and Ph.D. in astronomy in 1960. He began a career starting with his boyhood dream of alien life.
Career
In what he called Project Ozma, after the Wizard of Oz, Dr. Drake alternately pointed the telescope at a pair of sunlike stars, Tau Ceti and Epsilon Eridani, each about 11 light years from Earth. The only signal he directed with it was from a rogue aircraft radar, but his effort drew the public’s attention.
A year later, in November 1961, 10 scientists including luminaries like Carl Sagan, convened at the Green Bank Observatory to ponder extraterrestrial possibilities. It was at Green Bank that Dr. Drake, who had planned the meeting derived his famous equation as a way to organize the agenda.
His equation consists of seven factors, which range over all human astronomical knowledge and aspiration. Some are strictly empirical, like the rate at which stars are born in the Milky Way and the fraction of those stars with habitable planets. Others are mystical, like the average lifetime of a technological civilization — 1,000 to 100 million years was the guess.
The Drake Equation
The Drake Equation purports to yield the number N of technically advanced civilizations in the Milky Way Galaxy as a function of other astronomical, biological and psychological factors. The equation states N = R*fpneflfifcL.
The factor R* is the mean rate of star formation in the Galaxy; fp the fraction of stars with planetary systems; ne the number of planets in such systems that are ecologically suitable for the origin of life; fl the fraction of such planets on which life in fact develops; fi the fraction of such planets on which life evolves to an intelligent form; fc the fraction of such worlds in which the intelligent life form invents high technology capable at least of interstellar radio communication; and L, the average lifetime of such advanced civilizations. A complete discussion of each element is available on the internet.
Max Sherman is a medical writer and pharmacist retired from the medical device industry. His new book “Science Snippets” is available from Amazon and other book sellers. It contains a number of previously published columns. He can be reached by email at [email protected].
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In terms of numbers, there may be more than 400 billion galaxies, each containing perhaps 100 billion stars, along with them probably hundreds of billions of planets, and many long lost civilizations. With distance, it has been estimated that the edge of the observable universe is about 270,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 miles away. In driving time should that be possible at a steady 65 miles per hour, it will take you 480,000,000,000,000,000 — that’s 4.8 × 10¹7 — years to get there, or 35 million times the current age of the universe. It’s going to be a very long drive, and the scenery won’t change much at all.
Most of the visible stars will burn out before you even exit the Milky Way galaxy. If you want to try touching a room-temperature star, the New York Times suggest planning a route that takes you past Kepler-1606. It’s 2,800 light-years away, so when you drive past it after 30 billion years, it will have cooled to a comfortable room temperature.
Are We Alone?
With these astronomical numbers one would think that we here on Earth are surely not alone. Millions of us have asked at one time or another, “Is anyone out there?”
The search for alien civilizations is ever present. Perhaps no one was more involved in that question than Frank Drake. He passed away last week at the age of 92. As reported by the New York Times, Drake led the search for life on other planets. He first pointed a radio telescope at a pair of stars in 1960 hoping to find alien civilizations and thus kindled a continuing endeavor called for Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence, or SETI.
Among his achievements was the development of the Drake Equation, which continues to be used to estimate the number of advanced civilizations in the galaxy. He never wavered in his belief that if humans waited long enough and searched hard enough, they would bridge the vast gaps between the stars with radio waves.
In his book “Intelligent Live in Space,” published in 1962, he wrote: “At this very minute, with almost absolute certainty, radio waves sent forth by other intelligent civilizations are falling on the earth. A telescope can be built that, pointed in the right place and tuned to right frequency, could discover these waves. Someday, from somewhere out among the stars, will come answers to many of the oldest, most important and most exciting questions mankind has asked.”
Aspirations
At one time, Dr. Drake confidently asserted that humans would come in contact with extraterrestrials in his own lifetime. In recent years, however, he acknowledged that he might not live to see contact made, emphasizing that with 100 billion stars and planets in the galaxy, the search had only just begun.
Biography
Frank Donald Drake was born in Chicago on May 28, 1930, the oldest of three children. His father, Richard was a chemical engineer, and his mother, Winnifred (Thompson) Drake, was a music teacher.
After three years as the electronics officer on a Navy cruiser, the USS Albany, Dr. Drake entered Harvard’s graduate school and left with a master’s degree and Ph.D. in astronomy in 1960. He began a career starting with his boyhood dream of alien life.
Career
In what he called Project Ozma, after the Wizard of Oz, Dr. Drake alternately pointed the telescope at a pair of sunlike stars, Tau Ceti and Epsilon Eridani, each about 11 light years from Earth. The only signal he directed with it was from a rogue aircraft radar, but his effort drew the public’s attention.
A year later, in November 1961, 10 scientists including luminaries like Carl Sagan, convened at the Green Bank Observatory to ponder extraterrestrial possibilities. It was at Green Bank that Dr. Drake, who had planned the meeting derived his famous equation as a way to organize the agenda.
His equation consists of seven factors, which range over all human astronomical knowledge and aspiration. Some are strictly empirical, like the rate at which stars are born in the Milky Way and the fraction of those stars with habitable planets. Others are mystical, like the average lifetime of a technological civilization — 1,000 to 100 million years was the guess.
The Drake Equation
The Drake Equation purports to yield the number N of technically advanced civilizations in the Milky Way Galaxy as a function of other astronomical, biological and psychological factors. The equation states N = R*fpneflfifcL.
The factor R* is the mean rate of star formation in the Galaxy; fp the fraction of stars with planetary systems; ne the number of planets in such systems that are ecologically suitable for the origin of life; fl the fraction of such planets on which life in fact develops; fi the fraction of such planets on which life evolves to an intelligent form; fc the fraction of such worlds in which the intelligent life form invents high technology capable at least of interstellar radio communication; and L, the average lifetime of such advanced civilizations. A complete discussion of each element is available on the internet.
Max Sherman is a medical writer and pharmacist retired from the medical device industry. His new book “Science Snippets” is available from Amazon and other book sellers. It contains a number of previously published columns. He can be reached by email at [email protected].
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