We Live in a Huge Universe

Despite the fact that we haven’t located ETs yet, it’s almost inevitable that we will eventually, because there are three times as many stars in the universe as previously thought, meaning there are trillions of earthlike planets. This conclusion is based on new observations that have revealed other galaxies that have very different structures from our own Milky Way. This also explains the mystery of "dark matter."

Using the a powerful new telescope in Hawaii, astronomers found that galaxies much older than ours that contain 20 times more red dwarf stars than more recent ones. Red dwarf stars are smaller and dimmer than our own sun and it’s thought that they are likely to be planets orbiting them that are conducive to the evolution of (hopefully, intelligent) life. In BBC News, Pallab Ghosh quotes astronomer Pieter van Dokkum as saying, "Red dwarfs are typically more than 10 billion years old and so have been around long enough for complex life to evolve on planets around them. It’s one reason why people are interested in this type of star."

And the dark matter mystery? Ghosh quotes astronomer Marek Kukula as saying, "The discovery of more stars in the universe means that we might not need quite as much dark matter as we thought to explain how the universe looks and behaves." As we get ready to move into 2011, you’ll be glad to know that there aren’t just bubbles in the champagne you’ll drink on New Year’s Eve–They are bubbling up from the center of the Milky Way galaxy as well. NASA’s Fermi Gamma-Ray Space Telescope has revealed two HUGE bubbles of energy erupting from the center of our galaxy, and each one contains the energy of 100,000 supernova explosions. New York Times, Dennis Overbye quotes astronphysicist Doug Finkbeiner as saying, "They’re big." That’s an understatement–each bubble is the size of galaxy. Their source remains a mystery. Overbye quotes astrophysicist David Spergel as saying, "Wow. And we think we know a lot about our own galaxy." Nobody suspected they were there until now.

Here at unknowncountry.com, we think we know a lot about our own galaxy as well and what we know is that–some way, somehow–ETs are here and they are visiting people regularly. Anne Strieber has an ongoing project in which she interviews these people about what THEIR experiences have REALLY BEEN LIKE, and has posted thirteen of them so far–including Nick and Darin (who is also interviewed by Whitley in this week’s subscriber interview)–just for our subscribers.