Researchers say humans could colonize the Milky Way within a billion years

billion years. This is the astronomical figure put forward by researchers, who say that in the current state of science we will need this period to colonize our entire galaxy: the Milky Way.

If it is a purely theoretical confirmation, experts in astrophysics and astronomy from the American universities of Pennsylvania, Columbia and Rochester have just published the result of their research in a very serious journal of American Astronomical Society.

Scientists have developed a computer model capable of simulating how a technologically advanced civilization like ours could colonize the Milky Way. A galaxy that nonetheless spans 100,000 light-years and contains between 100 and 400 billion stars and at least 100 billion planets. If the latter is not habitable, the researchers have essentially wondered how quickly humanity can establish space colonies.

According to many American researchers, it would take humanity a billion years to colonize the entire Milky Way galaxy and more than 100-400 billion stars. The simulation below makes you dizzy 🙂 Study find here https://t.co/iK3XUs5aRH pic.twitter.com/aFC3OCMy57

– Nicholas Cayode Nicholas Cayode (@nicokayo) June 21, 2021

The video above shows how quickly humanity can leave its birthplace in our solar system before building a veritable galactic empire worthy of Dune, a famous sixth novel in 1965. In this video, the color purple symbolizes our species’ interstellar evolution.

It should be noted that colonization accelerates exponentially as one approaches a billion years. This is explained by the fact that the stars in the center of our galaxy are closer and closer to each other, which facilitates the travel of colonies.

100,000 years of journeys

Above all, scientists based on the state of current technologies. Thus humanity’s expansion will only happen at 10 kilometers per second, which is currently the speed of our fastest space probes such as Voyager and New Horizons. So it does not take into account any new payment method.

In addition, the established model assumes that a colonization ship to another world will only be sent every 10,000 years on average. Finally, some travelers will have to be patient because some ships can cross for 100,000 years before reaching their destination.