Interesting finding from the Webb telescope

[Koolau]

I was going to ask what the other two were…

Yeah, I was kinda afraid to ask.

 

[SecondAttempt]

As someone who works adjacent to the field I find this exciting but would also note that it is NOT common exciting talk among the astronomers I know. I think this is because of the often-cited phrase "extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence." This is actually the second detection of the gas from a second instrument on JWST. So it is right for lay people and scientists to remain skeptical as I am at this point. But we are beyond the point of dismissing this as an anomaly or error, IMO.

My personal opinion is that either earth is unique in the universe at harboring life or life has developed very widely and we have just not found it quite yet. I don't think believing it developed on just a few planets among the billions and billions we know exist is a credible belief. So once we find number two I think it is a game changer for science and even for religion!

But I don't think we are there yet even though my read of the journal article is that they have done great research and analysis. And I am actually a referee for a few scientific journals so I'm used to judging this kind of thing.

 

[CaptTom]

Beyond the click-bait headlines, the real story here is the progress that's being made toward detecting and understanding the source of compounds and elements in the atmospheres of other planets.

That old adage "more data are needed" really applies here. This is one data point. As this technique improves, we'll get more. And hopefully be able to make some more accurate guesses as to what kinds of chemistry suggest life, and what kinds are from natural processes.

So, yes, it's an exciting discovery which justifies an announcement. The headline writers add the click bait.

 

[dixonge]

"Even if dimethyl sulfide is a reliable biosignature, some astronomers are skeptical that it's been detected here.

The detection seems "tentative," Edward Schwieterman, an astrobiologist at the University of California, Riverside who wasn't involved in the research, told NPR. "It is not a sure thing."

Oops! It Appears There's a Striking Flaw in That Claim About Detecting Alien Life

There's significant questions about whether biosignature that the astronomers detected on the exoplanet is actually a sign of life.

futurism.com

"The implications of this discovery extend far beyond correcting data errors. If a significant number of exoplanet observations are skewed by stellar activity, scientists must reassess claims about potentially habitable planets. Many of the most promising exoplanets have been identified based on atmospheric readings that may now be in question."

How Do Starspots Trick Us into Seeing Planets That Don’t Exist? | NASA Space News

For decades, astronomers have been peering into the vastness of space, searching for planets beyond our solar system—exoplanets—that might harbor life. Using advanced telescopes, scientists have developed methods to analyze distant planets by studying their host stars. However, new research...

nasaspacenews.com

 

[HFWR]

One could argue that anything posted online is clickbait, in that the poster wants people to click.

In my early days in the silicon mine, it was a joke that once we got a squiggle on the oscilloscope, the device was considered “functional”. Of course then we had to make it manufacturable, a decidedly more difficult task.

I’ve seen quite a few “changes physics” headlines, referring to recent observations by the JWST, so it’s always good to hold the champagne. Maybe settle for a beer.

 

[mystang52]

While subject to verification, this finding is interesting. But I won't get excited unless we get a true signal from another planet............preferablly in English.

 

[Qs Laptop]

I saw this story in the NY Times. True to form, the final paragraph was about how Trump is threatening to cut NASA funding.

 

[bjorn2bwild]

Skepticism is integral to the scientific method.
For anyone mildly curious, these two articles do a very good job of parsing out the details, very interesting.
Rather than picking out a few quotes or the ever popular TLDR, I think they deserve to be read through.
Not too long.

https://www.science.org/content/blog-post/you-can-probably-smell-planet-here

Skepticism greets claims of a possible biosignature on a distant world

It’s really difficult to get a clear sign of life on an exoplanet.

arstechnica.com

 

[HFWR]

I didn't see the Stones on the list.

I suppose he was implying that, if you weren’t a Beatles fan, you were in the Stones’ camp.

 

[Koolau]

I suppose he was implying that, if you weren’t a Beatles fan, you were in the Stones’ camp.

There you go! What other bands ARE there (a rhetorical question!)?

 

[Time2]

I sure hope they're not watching our 24 hr news cycle!

Flieger

If they had been watching, they would have already put up the cloaking shields. We would have never seen them.

 

[Time2]

Hot fudge milkshakes, smoked brisket, cold beer, The Beatles, a toddler’s giggles, baseball, cat videos, boobs…

We're all 12 year old boys here, you started the list backwards.

 

[corn18]

Most certainly there is life on another planet somewhere in the universe. Intelligent life? Not humans. We are going to kill ourselves off before we get to interstellar space travel, let alone intergalactic.

 

[rk911]

I suppose he was implying that, if you weren’t a Beatles fan, you were in the Stones’ camp.

Ahh. Well, I am a Beatles fan. One down, three to go.

 

[HFWR]

I like both, though for different reasons.

 

[SecondAttempt]

I saw this story in the NY Times. True to form, the final paragraph was about how Trump is threatening to cut NASA funding.

I hope this is not removed for being political since everything is being made political these days. But as I said, I work adjacent to the field, or at least I did and have many close contacts still. There is of course fear of funding evaporating but so far it seems solid for stuff like this. But the mostly foreign postdocs and graduate students who are here legally are living in terror! I have Canadian born former colleagues who are naturalized US citizens that have been ordered by ICE to drive hundreds of miles to show their US passports. The have done nothing wrong, have no arrests or traffic citations, just got flagged by some government database join.

 

[Amethyst]

Or, some may have already come and gone. Thirteen plus billion years is a long time.

As in, Mars is thought to have been much warmer, and have lots of water and perhaps an atmosphere...a billion years ago, when the Sun was hotter and so was Earth.

 

[Mark1]

when the Sun was hotter

OK, you made look. Is this really true? I thought once a star like the sun got on the main sequence it temperature and luminosity didn't change much, i.e., the next 10 billion years in the case of the sun. I can't come up with a good reason why this would be true and the quote from the attached link is not consistent with a hotter past.

Was the young Sun cooler or hotter than it is today?

Generally, astrophysicists say that the young Sun was only about 70% as warm as today, which leads to the alleged 'Faint young Sun paradox' about how a young Earth could have been as warm as it (ag...

astronomy.stackexchange.com

And you can see from the diagram below that during formation the temperature always increases when approaching the main sequence (the curve always goes towards the left, never towards the right), so the temperature has always been lower in the past than it is now.

 

[CO-guy]

As someone who works adjacent to the field I find this exciting but would also note that it is NOT common exciting talk among the astronomers I know. I think this is because of the often-cited phrase "extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence." This is actually the second detection of the gas from a second instrument on JWST. So it is right for lay people and scientists to remain skeptical as I am at this point. But we are beyond the point of dismissing this as an anomaly or error, IMO.

My personal opinion is that either earth is unique in the universe at harboring life or life has developed very widely and we have just not found it quite yet. I don't think believing it developed on just a few planets among the billions and billions we know exist is a credible belief. So once we find number two I think it is a game changer for science and even for religion!

But I don't think we are there yet even though my read of the journal article is that they have done great research and analysis. And I am actually a referee for a few scientific journals so I'm used to judging this kind of thing.

I agree. If verified, this is extremely compelling evidence that life doesn't only exist on Earth.

As a kid, I watched Carl Sagan explain the Drake equation. His explanation was compelling enough for me to believe we're not alone. That and the fact that, on a cosmic scale, life arose quickly after our planet was formed.

 

[imjustawarrior]

Sorry, but I have never understood why there is so much interest in space. I guess there is something in people that cause them to look for more.

I have parts that I designed in the James Webb telescope. Maybe I should be more interested.

 

[HFWR]

Sorry, but I have never understood why there is so much interest in space. I guess there is something in people that cause them to look for more.

I have parts that I designed in the James Webb telescope. Maybe I should be more interested.

I’m more interested in near-Earth exploration, as satellites have allowed us to know more about weather, climate, the history of meteor strikes, etc. I get the urge to know more about the universe, though it is less applicable to everyday life.

 

[corn18]

I want Elon to go find an asteroid made of rare earth minerals and haul it back here and put it in orbit for mining. In a utopian world, we would all have enough, forever.

 

[GrayHare]

I'm unable to find the quote online, but I recall reading that Isaac Asimov as a child pondered that the reason all galaxies are moving away from ours is because ours contains the dangerously infectious disease known as life.

 

[corn18]

I think this was the problem:

Gaia Sausage Merger

 

[Amethyst]

My personal opinion is that either earth is unique in the universe at harboring life or life has developed very widely and we have just not found it quite yet. I don't think believing it developed on just a few planets among the billions and billions we know exist is a credible belief. So once we find number two I think it is a game changer for science and even for religion!

My view is that if something isn't mentioned in the Bible, it's probably because God saw no reason to tell the prophets about it. Why would early Hebrews need to know about dinosaurs, for example, let alone life on other planets?