If intelligent life evolved on a planet of a brown dwarf — a “failed” star — that was ejected from its original galaxy deep into intergalactic space, then that species would be spectacularly isolated.
Note that the “naked eye” stars we see in our night sky are all big, bright stars in our immediate vicinity.
Outside of a galaxy the night sky would be black, other than some fuzzy smudges of other galaxies.
It would be a long time before any such species would figure out what galaxies are, what stars are, and their own relationship to those things.
Their study of astronomy would take a wildly different path even assuming they end up at the same conclusions!
And then what? What missions could they envisage, tens of thousands of light years away from the next nearest… anything?
> If intelligent life evolved on a planet of a brown dwarf — a “failed” star — that was ejected from its original galaxy deep into intergalactic space, then that species would be spectacularly isolated.
Even better, (or worse): A species that evolved on a rogue planet! Without any star!! (heated by it's core or nuclear elements or space magic or whatever)
> It would be a long time before any such species would figure out what galaxies are, what stars are, and their own relationship to those things.
Humans are bad enough with our "We're unique and special!" complex, imagine theirs!! lol
Do we have a good estimate for the density of intergalactic stars? Or how far away from a star will you be on average, when you are, say halfway between the Milky Way and Andromeda?
Apparently this is very new science, the information is still being collected as cutting edge research.
One thing that is clear is that the intergalactic medium has a highly variable density. In the vicinity of a recent galactic merger or near-miss, there would be a smear of stars fading off into the distance.
Conversely, even a fairly quiet and passive galaxy like our own is expected to eject stars at a rate of one every few hundred years from the core region immediately nearby the black hole there.
Note that the “naked eye” stars we see in our night sky are all big, bright stars in our immediate vicinity.
Outside of a galaxy the night sky would be black, other than some fuzzy smudges of other galaxies.
It would be a long time before any such species would figure out what galaxies are, what stars are, and their own relationship to those things.
Their study of astronomy would take a wildly different path even assuming they end up at the same conclusions!
And then what? What missions could they envisage, tens of thousands of light years away from the next nearest… anything?