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Originally Posted by
MissFeenella 
Fee raised an eyebrow at what the professor was saying.So if she got that right it was about an system to calculate how many livings there were in the universe right?!But could you really get that mathematical?After all the universe was HUGE. But why not give it a try.So the Slytherin thought about things that could be important to the equal.Well,what did a living need to survive?!"Professor can it be how far the planet is away from the sun?",she asked raising her hand,"i mean if the planet is to near there cant be any living.The sun is way to hot."
Fee seriously hadnt any ohter idea what could be important to that equal.Well they needed life on the planet.Sure but how did life develop?!That was such a though question."Doesnt life always start with bacterial material?",the blonde raised her hand.Hopefully the professor wouldnt think she was totally stupid,she just coiuldnt imagine how life started forming up.
The students ended up having a few questions after all. "To your first question... Yes, there are a lot of boxes that need to be ticked before a planet qualifies as hospitable, you are correct. In this case, though, all those details are included in the phrase 'hospitable planet'. As far as the equation goes, a planet needs to be in the right place, have the right size, have an atmosphere, and so forth," he waved a hand, "to be considered hospitable."
He tapped a slender finger against the relevant line on the blackboard. "If it's, say, too far away from the parent star, it's not considered hospitable and doesn't appear in this factor of the equation. As for your second question... It is generally assumed that it does, yes. Life begins simple and then, in the correct circumstances, evolves more complexity. Actually," he added, "bacteria can be fairly complex already, they're not the first forms of life on which everything else is built, but for shorthand, we'll refer to them. If you're alright with that?" He gave her a questioning look, smiling slightly.
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Originally Posted by
DanialRadFAN01 All this stuff was a little over Riley's head, but really any sort of equation was most of the time. The Gryffindor did his best to follow along and listened to each students' suggestion and then to Professor Antares as he added them to the list.
Maybe it was just him but Riley seemed to think there was a celestial body missing so he raised his hand. "Umm, Professor. Would you need to count moons for the planets? Because perhaps a moon could possibly be able to host life." he suggested. The universe was a huge place and many things could be possible.
"Very good question," he said, nodding. "And my answer is that yes, you probably would. Perhaps we should add another factor, number of hospitable moons or something along those lines. As you can see already, this equation is no foolproof method of figuring out the question of alien life, and we can certainly poke more holes in it."
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Originally Posted by
nogoodforyou So stars couldn't support life, but they helped... somehow. Alright. Helena got that. Thank yooouuu, professor.
And... questions? Yes, Helena had one. "Are we going to calculate this? Now?" She asked with her hand in the air, then let it fall back on her lap.
She REALLY wasn't looking forward to that, even though she liked the lesson.
Risu laughed. "No, we aren't," he said, shaking his head. "The main reason for this being, most of the actual values in this equation aren't very well known at all. We could plug some random numbers in, of course, but the result wouldn't help us much."
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Originally Posted by
TwistedHearts Questions? Zara had one. 'HOW ON EARTH DID YOU KNOW MY NAME?' She kept repeating in her head. But decided not to say it out loud. It's not related to the topic anyway. She kept quiet for the moment and sat still.
Then a question hit her. OOHH. Her hand shot up and asked, "I have, Professor," she grinned, "When was this equation made, exactly?" Yeah, she hasn't read about it the books. *tries to remember what she's seen in those books she read*
Nope, it ain't there. Guess she needed to read more.
"I do believe this equation was first announced in the 1970s... So more than a century ago. I actually... Hold on a moment." He rummaged around in the stack of books on his desk, eventually flipping open an old encyclopaedia. "Drake, Drake," he murmured, running a finger down the entries. "Oh! Looks like I was off by a decade. The first mention of this equation was in 1961, at a scientific meeting about the search for alien life. There you have it." He flipped the book shut with a thud.
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Originally Posted by
Meh Reh "Carlisle, yes, you were right," she said, nodding.
Sophia copied exactly what Professor Antares had written on the board, along with the equation.
"Uh, Professor?" she said, raising her hand. "What do all of the letters in the equation stand for?"
CONFUSION.
"Well! Miss Carlisle, I will get into that if there are no other questions. Anyone?" He looked around.