Scientists have counted if there are other intelligent civilizations in our galaxy. It turned out that they did

And more than one.
This is probably one of the most important questions of modern science, and certainly the most important in astronomy. Man for hundreds of years, if not for millennia, wonders whether in the whole, almost infinite universe life originated only on Earth, or maybe it occurs universally. A special version of this question is the question of the intelligence of such a possible life. Perhaps life on Earth is an exception, perhaps life is widespread, but intelligent life originated on Earth, and perhaps life and intelligent life are universal in the universe. This issue takes practically every man looking at the starry night sky.
Assumption: intelligent life arises everywhere the same
Researchers from the University of Nottingham, assuming in their research that intelligent life on other planets can arise in a similar way as on Earth, have calculated that there can be more than 30 actively communicating intelligent civilizations in the Milky Way.
There should be dozens of active civilizations in our galaxy, if we assume that it takes about 5 billion years to develop intelligent life on a planet, as it was on Earth, says Christopher Conselice, professor of astrophysics at Nottingham and one of the authors of the study. In our research, we focused on evolution, but on a cosmic scale. We called it the Copernican Restriction.
The classic method of estimating the number of intelligent civilizations is based on guessing the values of life, but opinions on individual values are very different. In our research, we simplified these assumptions using new data, so we received solid estimates of the number of civilizations in our galaxy, ” adds Tom Westby, the first author of the study.
Two versions of the Astrobiological Copernican Limitation assume that intelligent life arises in less than or more than 5 billion years. On Earth, communicating civilization originated about 4.5 billion years after the creation of the Earth. Considering the criterion that the star’s metallic nature must be similar to that of the Sun (metallicity is the percentage of heavier metals than hydrogen and helium in the star), it can be calculated that in our galaxy there should currently be about 36 actively communicating civilizations.
The results of the search for other civilizations say a lot about ourselves
Research indicates that the number of civilizations strongly depends on how long such civilizations actively send into space signals that indicate their presence, e.g. radio signals. If we assume that other technological civilizations give signals as long as we do, say at least 100 years, then there should be 36 intelligent technical civilizations in our galaxy.
The problem, however, is that the average distance to such civilizations is 17,000 light years, making detection and communication with such civilizations beyond the reach of current technologies. Of course, there is the possibility that we are simply the only intelligent civilization in the Milky Way.
Our research indicates that the search for extraterrestrial intelligent civilizations not only tells a lot about how life is created, but also can tell us a lot about how long such civilizations exist. If we actually discover intelligent life, it may mean that our civilization has a chance to survive for quite a long time, not just a few hundred years. On the other hand, if it turns out that we do not find a single active civilization, it should give us a lot to think about how we care about our own. Searching for extraterrestrial intelligent life – even if we find nothing – we discover our own future and fate – adds Professor Conselice.
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Scientists have counted if there are other intelligent civilizations in our galaxy. It turned out that they did
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