1cmanny1 wrote:Xeno wrote:The chance is infinitesimally small but if there was life of a similar level to us think of the possibilities, 80 years for a chat. Within the a single lifetime we could send a message and possibly receive a reply. Yes 80 years is a long time but the possibility of receiving extra solar dank memes.
Isn't 40 light years thousands of years?
A light year is the distance that light travels in one year.
If we are communicating at light speed, then it would take 40 years for our signal to reach them and another 40 years for us to receive their reply.
With current technology (of course we might invent faster ships if we were actually going to do it!) it would take us around 30,000 years to physically travel one light year, so for us to reach them to shake hands we would be looking at 1,200,000 years. Which is the same age as your mum.