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> These galaxies were once thought to be extremely rare in the early universe, but this discovery, plus more than a dozen additional candidates in the first hal
by civilitty 3y ago
> These galaxies were once thought to be extremely rare in the early universe, but this discovery, plus more than a dozen additional candidates in the first half of COSMOS-Web data that have yet to be described in the scientific literature, suggests they might be three to 10 times as common as expected.
If I had a dollar for every astronomical object that turned out to be more common than expected in my life time, I'd be rich!
Exoplanets, brown dwarves, rogue planets, fast radio bursts, super-earth exoplanets, neutron stars, hot jupiters, binary star systems, ultra-faint dwarf galaxies, globular clusters in other galaxies, circumbinary exoplanets, intermediate-mass black holes, ringed exoplanets, pulsars, useful gravitational lenses, magnetars, white dwarves with planetary remnants, ultra-compact dwarf galaxies, quasars with outflows, blue stragglers... I could go on and on.
It's been a delight to watch, especially with the torrent of discoveries enabled by JWST. Maybe the astrophysicists will even be able to get our timeline back on track after the LHC screwed everything up.
- Brajeshwar 3y agoI'm thinking we (on earth) had one tiny anamoly somewhere somehow and that made all the difference.
- ilrwbwrkhv 3y agoIf you are saying that life on earth is an anomaly, I would strongly disagree. I think life is the most common thing in the universe. We just don't have the tools yet. In fact we wouldn't be able to detect life on earth itself if we were on another planet.
- yaomtc 3y agoBy a huge margin, hydrogen is the most common thing in the universe, but yes, life might be one of the most common things in the universe.
- theK 3y agoI love how on magnitudes as big as the universe even the most obscure event has so many occurrences.
- thaumasiotes 3y ago> By a huge margin, hydrogen is the most common thing in the universe You never know. Maybe it's antihydrogen.
- nyokodo 3y ago> I think life is the most common thing in the universe. Until we have sufficient evidence we don’t know how common life is in the universe. It doesn’t take much for one of the exponents of the Drake equation to veer towards zero so closely that all the vast distances, multitude of galaxies, stars, and planets make no difference to our chances of not being alone in the universe. We won’t know until we have a body of evidence with which we can perform statistical analysis and N=1 isn’t enough. Unless you’re in possession of non-public data on the matter then your assertion is merely a kind of faith.
- ilrwbwrkhv 3y agoDrake equation is a probabilistic argument or simply science fiction of the intelligent kind. It is not science. Life is incredibly common because nothing about us is special in the universe.
- vsnf 3y agoWhy do you speak with such confidence when you have no data? If life is common as you've stated, then where is it? Whether ultimately true or untrue, your assertion is without evidence, yet presented as though it is the unassailable truth.
- ceejayoz 3y agoIt's generally a fairly safe assumption that if something can happen once, it can likely happen twice. It's not guaranteed, but with fifteen billion years and 200 sextillion stars to work with, even the most unlikely things are pretty likely.
- oneshtein 3y agoSpace is hostile to life. After 4 billion years, life cannot propagate to nearest planet. We are lucky that life on our planet is not erased yet, but it will be erased in about 2-4 billion years, when oceans will boil, then when core will freeze, then when Sun will consume the planet. Out of 6-8 billion years, 3 billion years was spent in single-cell form of life. We are extremely lucky. We can calculate how many stars are formed after a supernova event, how many Earth-size planets in the habitable zone are survived after collision of two objects of comparable size, how many of them survived with ocean and large moon, to make large tidal waves (I suspect that first cells were formed as greasy puddles, then partially dried out, which created a membrane), then how many of them were far enough from a supernova or not erased by it own star in 4 billion years at least. I suspect, that final number will be much less that 200 sextillion, because, to avoid a supernova, a star must be formed in a less dense region.
- TomK32 3y agoLife on Earth has been proven 30 years ago in an experiment by Carl Sagan. https://theconversation.com/carl-sagan-detected-life-on-earth-30-years-ago-heres-how-his-experiment-is-helping-us-search-for-alien-species-today-216037 https://theconversation.com/carl-sagan-detected-life-on-eart... Just imagine the technological progress made by space faring creatures in the 30 years since! Well. Not much in our case...
- renegade-otter 3y agoEarth won multiple lotteries, at the right time, in the right amounts. * Single-star system (not that common) * Away from galactic radiation in the center of the Milky Way * A stable, elliptical system without chaos or collisions * Optimal distance from the Sun * Optimal amount of water * Optimal size * Oxygen * Iron core to protect against radiation * The Moon, right size, right distance, to keep the spin stable * Gas giants absorbing a lot of dangerous projectiles before they get here Take out any one of these, and we are probably toast. Or take #2 - most of our galaxy is a radiation oven. This is probably true for many others, making the Universe predominantly hostile to life right off the bat. And, sure, life could mean something else, and different permutation of these or completely different variables might create life, but as far as we know - the Earth is a very, very unique place. We can see it in our own system, with "close but no cigar" Mars.
- devwastaken 3y agoThe universe is infinite. Life is less infinite than the surrounding matter, but it is still infinite.
- WalterBright 3y agoWe should be working on seeding life on every candidate in our solar system.
- PUSH_AX 3y agoSpread and consume
- hypertele-Xii 3y agoMore like cultivate gardens.
- PUSH_AX 3y agoSure that’s where we’ll stop
- wffurr 3y agoAnywhere there's an untapped energy gradient, we will be there, consuming it.
- unnamed76ri 3y agoAlmost like some all powerful creator wanted us to see how special we are.
- teddyh 3y agoBrown dwarfs and white dwarfs, please. We’re not talking about Duergar or Grombrindal here.
- Ankaios 3y agoMaybe the astrophysicists will even be able to get our timeline back on track after the LHC screwed everything up. To fix the timeline, we just need to build a bigger accelerator. Sincerely, Your friends at Fermilab^WGoogle
- civilitty 3y agoI'm not falling for that one again...