The Order of the Dolphin

R* x    The average rate of stars in order;

fp   x   Revolving planets within their border;

ne  x    Planets distance paradisiacal, a zone of Goldilocks, temperature just right precise for life’s building    blocks.

fe   x    A portion of those planets, will bake the perfect primordial soup, the ideal chemical complex needed for life to group.

fi  x     Multiply those planets, in a game of chance, and a fraction of what’s left, is life considered to be advanced.

fc  x     Of those life bearing planets, intelligent enough to speak, some will be sending signals, into space for us to seek.

L  x     The rate of time they’ll send these signals, into outer space, the last unknown in the Drake Equation left for us to trace.

Editor’s note: Joshua Berman described this poem, “…I wrote it after reading about the Drake Equation during my undergrad physics and astronomy studies.” 

If one is unfamiliar with the Drake Equation you might want to take a detour to Wikipedia to see a detailed explanation of for a way to estimate for the number of civilizations in our galaxy, in addition to why the name of the poem is called “The Order of the Dolphin“.