StarsAndScopes

💫A More Complex Read The Fermi Paradox asks why we haven’t found intelligent life in a universe teeming with stars. My theory: planets in low-density voids, like our own Local Void and the Microscopium Void, face fewer catastrophic interstellar impacts per my calculations. The universe has an average galaxy density of about 0.01 galaxies per cubic megaparsec, but the Local Void, where we are located, is much emptier with only 0.001–0.002 galaxies per cubic megaparsec. This extreme sparsity, reflects an 80 - 90% underdensity, resulting in an estimated 1,000 - 1,400 galaxies within our Local Void. This suggests voids may be safer for sustaining evolutionary life due to fewer cosmic disruptions. Fewer stars in voids mean fewer gravitational tugs which send comets, especially interstellar objects like 3I/ATLAS, crashing into planets. Calculations using 2021 Oort Cloud models and 2024 Cosmicflows-4 data show Andromeda (M31), in our Local Void, 0.05 stars/pc³, has ~0.40 >15 km interstellar impacts over 5 billion years. 97% less than the ~8 in dense regions, e.g., spiral arms, and total impacts, including internal MW impacts like Chicxulub, reaching ~90.4 - 1 per 55.3 million years. Meanwhile, Galaxy NGC 6925, in the sparsely populated Microscopium Void, ~0.03 stars/pc³, sees ~0.24 interstellar impacts, totaling ~90.25. This gives ~25% of planets a shot at 4 billion year evolutionary cycles without a biosphere reset - vs. ~20% in denser universe regions. Beautiful Andromeda’s likely intelligent life edge lies in its scale: its ~400 - 800 billion planets, 2 - 4x the Milky Way’s, could host ~4,000 - 80,000 civilizations dwarfing NGC 6925’s ~10 - 100 billion planets, and ~100 - 5,000 civilizations. Both galaxies’ void settings, i.e., low supernova, tidal disruptions, and lower interstellar impact volume, make them SETI hotspots - but Andromeda’s vastness tips my scales for the presence of intelligent life. The favorable interstellar impact differentials I've described may well allow the evolution of higher intelligence over the seeming requisite of ~4 billion years. You can check the math with my Python code per request. You might conclude something different. What do you think @WillKinney ? I know this isn’t your jam, but like me, I think you might wonder where and if we'll find some interesting folks in the universe before we wink out.✨ #Astrobiology #FermiParadox #SETI

@racepoint777 @honeymoon250 @honeymoon250 Great catch Steve. Thanks!

@honeymoon250 You first

Would you gladly shake Obama's hand if you met him in person? Be honest

Another shot from the 25th. The "Eyes of Clavius". An interesting illusion created by the morning sunlight catching the rims of craters inside the wonderful crater Clavius in the Moon's southern highlands

Incredible detail in Portrait of a Woman by William Larkin, painted between 1615–1619.

Nothing really special to see, just a flock of turkeys following the mailman around.

@Rainmaker1973 🩷

US is holding off currently sending warships to the Strait of Hormuz with navy officers saying Iranian drones and anti-ship missiles could turn the area into a kill box for American sailors-WSJ

@Acyn Well, I'm certain it's Biden's fault that Iran is blocking and planting explosives in the Strait of Hormuz. Trump bombing the hell out of Iran is not the reason, therefore, he should not be responsible for clearing the Strait. tic

Trump: You could make the case that maybe we shouldn’t even be there at all

❄️🌲❄️ 14 inches here. Couldn't open one of my doors because part of the snowfall was wet and set up like concrete. It snowed for precisely 24 hours (until about 5PM today). Haha went out today anyway - it was gorgeous, traffic was absent, and all the pines in the parkway area were like Cathedrals of snow.

We are having such a March.

@RafStargazer Great shot! Perfect really.

Snagged the Leo Trio : M66 (brightest, spiral with distorted arms from interactions), M65 (tighter spiral), NGC 3628 (edge-on, prominent dust lane). In Leo, ~35 Mly. Shot on March 8, 2026. #Astrophotography

@ADS69635721 I love this.

Cup gum (Eucalyptus cosmophylla), Kangaroo Island, SA, Australia

@Shirley18281828 🩷 Most old school houses and their foundations last so long. Almost bought one. Worth the foundation alone. Folks put their hearts and souls into the safety of their children, and these schools were often built by the families whose children would be attending them.

I went to this country school for one year. My mother, grandmother, and great-grandfather all went to this school.

@Shirley18281828 Wonderful shot. Even more wonderful for a final rest.

Deer

@Shirley18281828 You aged well :)

Coming up on 9 years retired April 1.

@Shirley18281828 LMAO🤣

This did not age well.

Spartans!! Go Green!!

@Shirley18281828 I loved the West Wing!

I’ve been meandering through the old political TV series West Wing. I’m on season 6 now, filmed in 2004. Foreign countries highlighted: Iran and Cuba.

@Shirley18281828 🤣

Wild life

@atrupar Insensible beyond any form of human logic -

Leavitt: "The fact that the terrorists are holding the global oil industry hostage by threatening to shut down the Strait of Hormuz just underscores the need for President Trump to launch this operation in the first place"

💫M64 fascinates me because of its unusual motion & beauty. The inner part of the galaxy rotates in the opposite direction to its outer regions - this the likely result of a merger with a smaller galaxy. That merger also ignited star formation obvious in the blue patches scattered throughout its system.💫 📸 @HUBBLE_space