Chariots of the Gods (Erich Von Daniken) - PDF File
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Are There Intelligent Beings in the Cosmos?
Is it conceivable that we world citizens of the twentieth century are not the
only living beings of our kind in the cosmos? Because no homunculus from another
planet is on display in a museum for us to visit, the answer, "Our earth is the
only planet with human beings," still seems to be legitimate and convincing. But
the forest of question marks grows and grows as soon as we make a careful study
of the facts resulting from the latest discoveries and research work.
On a clear night the naked eye can see about 4,500 stars, so the astronomers
say. The telescope of even a small observatory makes nearly 2,000,000 stars
visible, and a modern reflecting telescope brings the light from thou-sands of
millions more to the viewer-specks of light in the Milky Way. But in the
colossal dimensions of the cosmos our stellar system is only a tiny part of an
incomparably larger stellar system--of a cluster of Milky Ways, one might say,
containing some twenty galaxies within a radius of 1,500,000 light-years (1
light-year = the distance traveled by light in a year, i.e., 186,000 x 60 x 60 x
24 x 365 miles). And even this vast number of stars is small in comparison with
the many thousands of spiral nebulae disclosed by the electronic telescope.
Disclosed to the present day, I should emphasize, for research of this kind is
only just beginning.
Astronomer Harlow Shapley estimates that there are some 10^20 stars within the
range of our telescopes. When Shapley associates a planetary system with only
one in a thousand stars, we may assume that it is a very cautious estimate. If
we continue to speculate on the basis of this estimate and suspect the necessary
conditions for life on only one star in a thousand, this calculation still gives
a figure of 10^14. Shapley asks: How many stars in this truly "astronomical"
figure have an atmosphere suitable for life? One in a thousand? That would still
leave the incredible figure of 10^11 stars with the prerequisites for life. Even
if we assume that only every thousandth planet out of this figure has produced
life, there are still 100,000,000 planets on which we can speculate that life
exists. This calculation is based on telescopes using the techniques available
today, but we must not forget that these are constantly being improved.
If we follow the hypothesis of biochemist Dr. Stanley Miller, life and the
conditions essential for life may have developed more quickly on some of these
planets than on earth. If we accept this daring assumption, civilizations more
advanced than our own could have developed on 100,000 planets.
The late Willy Ley, well-known scientific writer, and friend of Wernher von
Braun, told me in New York: "The estimated number of stars in our Milky Way
alone amounts to 30 billion. The assumption that our Milky Way contains at least
16 billion planetary systems is considered admissible by present-day
astronomers. If we now try to reduce the figures in question as much as possible
and assume that the distances between planetary systems are so regulated that
only in one case in a hundred does a planet orbit in the ecosphere of its own
sun, that still leaves 180 million planets capable of supporting life. If we
further assume that only one planet in a hundred that might support life
actually does so, we should still have the figure of 1.8 million planets with
life. Let us further suppose that out of every hundred planets with life there
is one on which creatures with the same level of intelligence as homo sapiens
live. Then even this last supposition gives our Milky Way the vast number of
18,000 inhabited planets."
Is it conceivable that we world citizens of the twentieth century are not the
only living beings of our kind in the cosmos? Because no homunculus from another
planet is on display in a museum for us to visit, the answer, "Our earth is the
only planet with human beings," still seems to be legitimate and convincing. But
the forest of question marks grows and grows as soon as we make a careful study
of the facts resulting from the latest discoveries and research work.
On a clear night the naked eye can see about 4,500 stars, so the astronomers
say. The telescope of even a small observatory makes nearly 2,000,000 stars
visible, and a modern reflecting telescope brings the light from thou-sands of
millions more to the viewer-specks of light in the Milky Way. But in the
colossal dimensions of the cosmos our stellar system is only a tiny part of an
incomparably larger stellar system--of a cluster of Milky Ways, one might say,
containing some twenty galaxies within a radius of 1,500,000 light-years (1
light-year = the distance traveled by light in a year, i.e., 186,000 x 60 x 60 x
24 x 365 miles). And even this vast number of stars is small in comparison with
the many thousands of spiral nebulae disclosed by the electronic telescope.
Disclosed to the present day, I should emphasize, for research of this kind is
only just beginning.
Astronomer Harlow Shapley estimates that there are some 10^20 stars within the
range of our telescopes. When Shapley associates a planetary system with only
one in a thousand stars, we may assume that it is a very cautious estimate. If
we continue to speculate on the basis of this estimate and suspect the necessary
conditions for life on only one star in a thousand, this calculation still gives
a figure of 10^14. Shapley asks: How many stars in this truly "astronomical"
figure have an atmosphere suitable for life? One in a thousand? That would still
leave the incredible figure of 10^11 stars with the prerequisites for life. Even
if we assume that only every thousandth planet out of this figure has produced
life, there are still 100,000,000 planets on which we can speculate that life
exists. This calculation is based on telescopes using the techniques available
today, but we must not forget that these are constantly being improved.
If we follow the hypothesis of biochemist Dr. Stanley Miller, life and the
conditions essential for life may have developed more quickly on some of these
planets than on earth. If we accept this daring assumption, civilizations more
advanced than our own could have developed on 100,000 planets.
The late Willy Ley, well-known scientific writer, and friend of Wernher von
Braun, told me in New York: "The estimated number of stars in our Milky Way
alone amounts to 30 billion. The assumption that our Milky Way contains at least
16 billion planetary systems is considered admissible by present-day
astronomers. If we now try to reduce the figures in question as much as possible
and assume that the distances between planetary systems are so regulated that
only in one case in a hundred does a planet orbit in the ecosphere of its own
sun, that still leaves 180 million planets capable of supporting life. If we
further assume that only one planet in a hundred that might support life
actually does so, we should still have the figure of 1.8 million planets with
life. Let us further suppose that out of every hundred planets with life there
is one on which creatures with the same level of intelligence as homo sapiens
live. Then even this last supposition gives our Milky Way the vast number of
18,000 inhabited planets."