In the "News" section of this website there is an article about the magnetic field of active galaxy NGC 1275.  Apparently this galaxy spanning field is strong enough to direct and maintain a complex network of gaseous filiments some of which are 20,000 light years long.  That would seem to be an awfully intense magnetic field.

My question is what would that mean to the potential development of life-as-we-know-it within that magnetic field?  We know that intense magnetic fields can be very inhospitible places, so would LAWKI exist anywhere within that galaxy?  Interested in your thoughts. 

Hmmm, I need to pour a drink for this one.

Good question. In my opinion, yes, I feel that life "may" still be able to exist there. Just as Earth is surrounded by a megnetic field yet our ozone layer protects us, so too may the inhabitants of another galaxy surrounded by a strong magnetic field be able to exist. (however, not sure if it would be LAWKI or just wierd other forms).

They may be dwelling inside of a protective "bubble", sort of like their own stronger ozone layer as compared with ours. I don't really know what is causing the magnetism, or if it is surrounding the galaxy or if the galaxy itself is completely immersed in such a strong magnetic field.

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UPDATE: now that I have just read what I wrote, it sounds kind of corny. I don't know.

This galaxy is the voice of doom. 

NGC 1275 is also known as a radio source (Perseus A) and is a Seyfert Galaxy.  With all the hard radiation and relatavistic plasma shooting around not only is this a very noisy place but if there was any life in this Hades like structure I can't imagine it would survive for long, and if there was by some miracle of an eddy or backwash of intellegent life there they probably had quite a light show before their world was roasted.

In space, no one can hear you scream.

L

Leave to Leo to always look at the 'bright' side.   "Hey, Honey.  Isn't that star up there getting awfully brigh . . . ?"

Sorry Terry,

Looks like my prognostication of doom has killed off another thread.   This is a fascinating galaxy to look at and think about but I am of course glad that it is far away from us!

L

No problem, Leo.  The conversation goes where it goes.  I probably narrowed the conversation too much by limiting it to life as we know it, but that's the only sort of life that we have any experience with. 

What would an intellegent life form be like in such a hostile place? Time for the SF hat, eh?

They would be tough as nails.  In order to survive the radiation, they would be very strong and probably massive to provide some protection from the elements.  They might also possess an extra sense much like birds do to detect magnetic fields to help them navigate.  Since their world would be subject to all sorts of radiation, relativistic shifting, and even physical damage from impacts they probably would have no trouble adjusting to spaceflight.  In a powerful gravity well of colliding galaxies and powerful organized magnetic lines perhaps they might be able to use these things to devise some way of riding the relatavistic plasma as it is shaped and travels along the magnetic field lines.

Culturally they would be someone you woudn't invite to a party. Their Gods would reflect the galaxy around them: filled with strife and destruction.  No idea of heaven being peaceful to them!  I suspect their society would be very rigid, filled with individual and societal anger. In a Galaxy where survival would be a miracle they might be of a mind that the strong should survive and the weak should die. A grim folk who expect nothing from the Universe and would have no problem taking what is needed to ensure their survival.

If these people exist I am glad they are very far away because ET they would not be.

Anyway, thanks for the flight of fancy to illuminate another day at the desk of doom,

L

leo731:

What would an intellegent life form be like in such a hostile place? Time for the SF hat, eh?

They would be tough as nails.  ...If these people exist I am glad they are very far away because ET they would not be.

Anyway, thanks for the flight of fancy to illuminate another day at the desk of doom,

L

All that radiation interference ...ET phoning home would likely have a dropped call...

Gas giants may provide enough shielding to protect life in the middle altitudes.  Under water life may also thrive.  Surface dwellers on a thin atmosphere world like ours ... maybe ouch.

 Radiation drives evolution on our planet and gives life a chance to cope with the changing environment.  Maybe galactic intelligence would statistically evolve sooner in a high radiation environment on planets with just the right mix of variables.(?) 

 But I wonder how impornt  a view of the sky is in the development of world bridging technology.  Shielded worlds may have a parochial view without any knowledge of outside worlds since information is also "shielded"  by thick atmospheres or oceans.

PH

leo731:

What would an intellegent life form be like in such a hostile place? Time for the SF hat, eh?

They would be tough as nails.  In order to survive the radiation, they would be very strong and probably massive to provide some protection from the elements.  They might also possess an extra sense much like birds do to detect magnetic fields to help them navigate.  Since their world would be subject to all sorts of radiation, relativistic shifting, and even physical damage from impacts they probably would have no trouble adjusting to spaceflight.  In a powerful gravity well of colliding galaxies and powerful organized magnetic lines perhaps they might be able to use these things to devise some way of riding the relatavistic plasma as it is shaped and travels along the magnetic field lines.

Culturally they would be someone you woudn't invite to a party. Their Gods would reflect the galaxy around them: filled with strife and destruction.  No idea of heaven being peaceful to them!  I suspect their society would be very rigid, filled with individual and societal anger. In a Galaxy where survival would be a miracle they might be of a mind that the strong should survive and the weak should die. A grim folk who expect nothing from the Universe and would have no problem taking what is needed to ensure their survival.

If these people exist I am glad they are very far away because ET they would not be.

Anyway, thanks for the flight of fancy to illuminate another day at the desk of doom,

L

What a great response, Leo.  The image of these extra-galactic Norsemen and their hard gods is very compelling.  Our cultures are indeed shaped by the same evolutionary forces that shape our forms.

In the spirit of pulling on the sf hat, I wonder what other tack might these beings take?

1.  Rather than become hardened to their environment they might instead evolve in a way which would make them transparent to their radioactive and magnetic realm.  I can imagine creatures whose form is almost ethereal, without a cellular structure to be attacked by the radiation.  Perhaps they would consist of a webwork of fine tendrils capable of catching the energy of their environment and converting it into the stuff of life?  Instead of having to struggle against the elements to survive, and in doing so become hardened and agressive, they would live in a world of bounty.  Free from a hardscrabble existance they might devote their time to art, and contemplation.  In this place perhaps M*A*S*H would never have been cancled.

2.  There may be isolated pockets in this wild galaxy where large moons lay in the protective shadows of massive planets.  Here life may have evolved, but what would be their opinion of the rest of the universe?  All they could see would be death surrounding them in every direction.  These folk might have an exceptional sense of community, knowing that they are truely alone together, and not suffer from the wanderlust we take so for granted.

3.  Or, what we see from earth as tenuous filiments of magneticly herded gas, might be the corporeal form of a single, galaxy spanning entity.  The nervous system of an island universe.  Would this beast understand us if it new of us, or does it gaze at us now with canabalistic greed even as we ponder it?

WOW!!!!!!!

Have any of you thought about pitching any of this to a movie studio?

Yes, I can see now that both PH and Terry have excellent points that perhaps life when confronted with chaos and death may evolve in a way that would transcend their surroundings rather than succumb to them.

Humans seem to be addicted to wanderlust from our earliest beginnings as a result of the ever changing enviornment of our Planet.  Would we be motivated to move much, if at all, were we living in a Garden of Eden with Hot Lips?  Perhaps not.

I was struck most by your third point of the single galaxy spanning entity.  You are aware that this galaxy seems to be in the process of eating another smaller spiral galaxy?  This image of a huge being consuming whole galaxies would hardly be aware I think of a few billion insignificant insects clinging to the surface of a dirt ball around a small star on the outer rim of an immense food source.  Do we think of the tiny bacteria we consume clinging to the skin of that apple we had for lunch?  It makes for a most chilling picture worthy of Moorcock.

Sorry Wannabe, as much as I enjoy writing I have been told I lack the imagination to write fiction so I spend my time writing and editing production manuals, documents, and company forms.  Except for the part of getting stoned, I have quite an affinity for Harry Chapin's "Taxi."

L

I think that movie is showing now on Earth . 

Hi, Dave.  Welcome to our little fantasy.

Thanks Terry .      Somehow though this may be closer to a reality . 

astronig:

Somehow though this may be closer to a reality

My dear Dave, you must expand on this.  One line answers will simply not do!

Eager eyes and razor sharp brains are trembling in anticipation of how this may be a reality.

Don't be

L