Earth-Size planet found orbiting Alpha Centauri. Could it host life!? (Spoiler: Nope.)

[Malos]

[QUOTE=Falubii;38082592][url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steady_State_theory]Yes.[/url][/QUOTE]

I'm pretty sure that theory's about the age of the universe, not the size.

Okay, assuming the universe is, in fact, finite in size, it is still incomprehensibly vast. So much so, that we have pretty much no idea how big it truly is and we probably never will. In those quadrillions upon quadrillions of stars, with a crapton of planets orbiting around each star, life-bearing planets are possible and it is very, very likely that they might be there. But I don't want to start a shitstorm, I was just stating what I think this guy meant.

[URL]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infinite_monkey_theorem[/URL]

Here it is. The example is unrelated, but the point stands. Given an infinite amount of space, life-bearing planets will form. It's only a matter of how many and how long you're willing to look. Again, assuming the universe is infinite. Although, considering the post I just got, I'm starting to doubt my thinking.

[Falubii]

The observable universe is not infinite, beyond that we don't know. Also, if you're just arguing that the universe is vast, then you must see the difference between [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Almost_surely]surely and almost surely[/url].

[hypno-toad]

[QUOTE=Malos;38082555]Can you prove that?[/QUOTE]

It's not infinite. "Prove" is a pretty subjective term, as much of what we know to be true about space, hasn't been proven, it's only been "inferred" or calculated.

It's been inferred and/or calculated that while space; in many senses could potentially be infinite (expansion), it's highly unlikely that [I]matter[/I] is infinite. If you were to pass what could be considered the "edge" of the universe, you'd eventually wind up back on the other side of the cosmos. Though we're talking about distances and quantities of matter that can't even be grasped by the human mind, so for all intents and purposes it may as well be infinite... since in the time it would take even the fastest moving object to pass by every celestial body in the universe, the universe as we know it now, would be gone.