/sci/ - Science & Math

The most amazing thing about the universe is that it even exists.

Tangible history and records. That is, there is history and material remains that is tangible and goes back further than a machine could fabricate or imagine. Graveyards, libraries, shipwrecks, etc. Not to mention all the other shit in the universe that is far more complicated, vast and confusing than a machine fabricate. See pic for example.

The world of the matrix is just one world with no specific history and a confined geographic area, i.e. "the city" or "the freeway" or "the mountains"

Good evening /sci/.

I'm pretty sure everyone of have seen this mind blowing image taken by the Hubble telescope after collecting the light coming from a seemingly dark little patch of sky. What can we see ? Galaxies ! lots of them ! Revealing themselves to our eyes as they were billions of years ago, emerging in a 'relatively' young universe.

Now, here comes my stupid question.

These galaxies are estimated to be about 13 billion light years away. But can anyone tell me how is that distance calculated ? how can I know that a particular photon came from, let's say, 100 light years away (and took 100 years to get to me) rather than 1 light year away (traveling for a year before exciting my light detector) ?

Remember just a little bit ago when they pointed the Hubble telescope at a piece of space that looked totally empty and just let it collect light for a long time?

This is what it saw.

So assuming the Theory of Life being frozen inside meteors or comets throughout space... Cant we not send life ourself into other planets and have evolution play its own role in that planets environment, say like Mars for example? Shooting it into the Polar Ice caps, or maybe shooting it through Europa's Crust?

What is /sci/ view of Life in the Universe, whether intelligent or not? (Besides Earth)