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The Cosmic Perspective Fundamentals | 2nd Edition | ISBN: 9780133889567 | Authors: Jeffrey O. Bennett; Megan O. Donahue; Nicholas Schneider; Mark Voit
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Alien Technology. Some people believe that Earth is being

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Problem 14SEQ

Alien Technology. Some people believe that Earth is being visited by aliens from other star systems. If this is true, how would the alien technology compare to our own? Using ideas of scale introduced in this chapter, write one to two paragraphs to give a sense of the technological difference.

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QUESTION:

Problem 14SEQ

Alien Technology. Some people believe that Earth is being visited by aliens from other star systems. If this is true, how would the alien technology compare to our own? Using ideas of scale introduced in this chapter, write one to two paragraphs to give a sense of the technological difference.

ANSWER:

Step 1 of 2

The nearest star system from the solar system is Alpha Centauri. This is located around 4.13 X 1013 km from the sun.  If we have to believe the theories put forward by some people about the visit of the aliens to the earth, then let us assume they come from Alpha Centauri. So, they must possess a spacecraft capable of traveling 4.13 X 1013 km of distance. Now, the man made spacecraft that has traveled the farthest is Voyager 1, which has traveled a distance of 2.06 X 1010 km in last 40 years (approximately). This is the maximum distance that a man made probe has traveled so far. If we compare this distance to the distance of Alpha Centauri, the latter is still 2000 times farther than the former. Therefore, the aliens would have to cover at least a distance 2000 times greater than Voyager 1 has covered. Voyager 1 takes almost 40 years to cover 2.06 X 1010 km. Therefore, to cover the distance up to Alpha Centauri, the same would take around 2000 X 40 years = 80,000 years. This time period is significantly large.

If an alien spacecraft has to travel the distance of 4.13 X 1013 km to reach earth, they must have far superior technology than our own.

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