Super Space Masterpost!

So today is, apparently, a big day for space!
Heck, this week has had trending space stories going ALL WEEK!

But today there are 3 trending space news stories that I am going to touch on because
DANG
They are so darn cool!




The first bit of news is this: 

The Fermi Paradox suggests that we should have made contact with an extraterrestrial civilization by now.

"But, Alexis, we haven't." You say?
I know...
I know...

You're disappointed.
I'm disappointed.
The scientists are disappointed.
So they took to the math and the science to see where it was wrong.
They slaved and toiled over hot keyboards, pencils, paper, and books and finally..

Evan Solomonides and Yervant Terzian figured it out..
They combined the Fermi Paradox with the Mediocrity Principle.
When they combine these two, it shows that we shouldn’t expect to hear from aliens for another 1,500 years.

"1,500 years?!" you say?
"I'll be gone!" you continue?

I know. So will I. It is sad.

Even our children's children's children will be gone before we make contact.
By then no one will even be able to watch all of the (Possibly) offensive alien contact movies we've made.

“It’s possible to hear any time at all, but it becomes likely we will have heard around 1,500 years from now. Until then, it is possible that we appear to be alone—even if we are not. But if we stop listening or looking, we may miss the signals. So we should keep looking.” Stated Solomonides.
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Our next bit of space news makes sure that, if aliens were to merrily jaunt their way down here, they'd know we're really cool and kind of scary.

"Why would they think that?" you ask?
(Oh, I love your ever inquisitive mind!)

WELL...
They'd be met with fire...
in space...
Space fire...



NASA is launching The Spacecraft Fire Experiment, also known as Saffire.

It is a series of experiments that will be launched on three different flights beginning in March.

Space fire, Saffire...
To-may-to, to-mah-to...


They will be testing 2 things:
Will fire continue to spread upward or will microgravity limit it
What materials will burn and how fast
Curious how they'll be running these fire experiments in space?

Watch the video!

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In our next (and last) cool piece of space news:

LIGO has detected another black hole crash!

Two black holes have collided and we HEARD IT!
Much like the kids listening at the window for the inevitable tire squeal and crash bang after removing a stop sign, we've been quietly listening and waiting for another black hole crash!

This has proved the biggest discovery in history this year!
Gravitational waves (ripples in space-time) are REAL!
Holy butts, right?!?

Gabriela González, a physicist at Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, and chair of the 1000-member LIGO Scientific Collaboration, has done well in hiding her excitement by saying,“It’s very reassuring.You need another one to be completely convinced and this is it.” 

She continued to say that, "Physicists determined that one of the black holes was spinning frenetically, at roughly 20% of the maximum spin rate allowed by general relativity. And because the new event includes many more cycles, it tests predictions of general relativity somewhat more stringently than the first event."
The more crashes we hear, the more we will be able to learn!

I just hope they have good insurance!

Source: Gizmodo, Cornell University, NASA, Science Magazine