Sometimes one must pass through the arches of absurdity to get to the serious stuff.
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I try attribute photos where possible - some are mine, some aren't. All of my own photos are licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License. (i.e. free to use/alter as long as you don't make money on it and freely share derivatives).
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Text reblogged from Fuck Yeah The Universe
The Drake Equation
totally meaningless guesstimation of the number of intelligent civilizations in our galaxy that are beaming communications into space. We know the number is currently AT LEAST 1 (we’re here, aren’t we?)
The Drake Equation
The Drake Equation is an equation to calculate the potential number of extraterrestrial civilizations in our galaxy, the Milky Way. It is used in the fields of exobiology and the search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI).
where:
- N = the number of civilizations in our galaxy with which communication might be possible;
and
- R* = the average rate of star formation per year in our galaxy
- fp = the fraction of those stars that have planets
- ne = the average number of planets that can potentially support life per star that has planets
- fℓ = the fraction of the above that actually go on to develop life at some point
- fi = the fraction of the above that actually go on to develop intelligent life
- fc = the fraction of civilizations that develop a technology that releases detectable signs of their existence into space
- L = the length of time such civilizations release detectable signals into space.[2]
