Playing Dice with the Universe

This week on Star Trails, we let the universe decide.

We fire up a real quantum computer to generate pure randomness — the seed for a million-universe simulation of the famous Drake Equation. Each run explores how many intelligent civilizations might exist in our galaxy, from barren voids to thriving cosmic metropolises. The results are startling, the implications profound, and the method delightfully nerdy.

Along the way, we revisit the roots of the Drake Equation, the strangeness of quantum mechanics, and the poetry of probability. Then we step outside to the real night sky: the waning Moon, Saturn’s thinning rings, Jupiter’s bright rise, and the Taurid fireballs streaking through November darkness.

I also share how I photographed the recent Full Beaver Moon using Stellarium, PhotoPills, and The Photographer’s Ephemeris.