Today’s stories include that the Great Filter means we could die before we discover extraterrestrial life. The study of white dwarfs suggests that planets are as old as their stars. The first meteorites brought enough water to Mars to create a global ocean, and much more.
Why this universe? New calculation suggests our cosmos is typicalreports Charlie Wood for Quanta.com–Two physicists have calculated that the universe has higher entropy – and is therefore more probable – than other possible universes.
Roger Penrose: “Consciousness must be beyond calculable physics”–The mathematician shares his latest theories on quantum consciousness, the structure of the universe and how to communicate with civilizations from other cosmological eons, reports New Scientist.
Will the galaxies and the intelligences they harbor beyond the observable universe evolve like ours? asks The Daily Galaxy. “The volume of space-time within reach of our telescopes – what astronomers have traditionally called ‘the universe’ – is only a tiny fraction of the consequences of the big bang,” says astrophysicist Martin Rees. “We would expect many more galaxies beyond the horizon, unobservable, each of which – and all the intelligences it hosts – will evolve much like our own.”
NASA’s Webb lifts the curtain on the universe’s first galaxies, reports NASA. “Everything we see is new. Webb shows us that there is a very rich universe beyond what we imagined,” said Tommaso Treu of the University of California, Los Angeles, principal investigator on one of the Webb programs. “Once again, the universe surprised us. These early galaxies are very unusual in many ways.
No, there is no hole in the universe– The image you see is not a hole in the universe, and the cosmic voids that exist do not look like holes at all, reports Big Think. “The image that normally accompanies it is extremely misleading, showing a dark cloud of gas and dust only a few hundred light-years away, not a large-scale cosmic structure. But the claim itself does not is not true; even in the deepest depths of the greatest cosmic voids, there is still a lot of matter, just like stars, galaxies and many electromagnetic signatures.
Dark matter can be information itself, reports Melvin Vopson is a senior lecturer in the School of Mathematics and Physics at the University of Portsmouth for iAiTV. “Some have proposed that ‘information’ is the 5th state of matter along with solid, liquid, gas and plasma and possibly the dominant form of matter in the universe.”
Giant satellite eclipses stars, raising new concerns for astronomers–BlueWalker 3 transmissions also pose a threat to radio observatories, reports Science.com. “That’s exactly what astronomers don’t want,” says astronomer Meredith Rawls of the University of Washington, Seattle, who helps lead the International Astronomical Union’s Center for Protecting Dark, Calm Skies from interference from satellite constellations. “It will show up as a super bright streak in images and potentially saturate observatory camera detectors.”
The hunt for habitable ocean worlds beyond our solar system–Astronomers believe planets covered in water, with oceans hundreds of meters deep, may be relatively common in our galaxy. Now the race is on to find one, reports New Scientist.
The first meteorites brought enough water to Mars to create a global ocean– “The meteorites bombarding the red planet may have carried so much water that they could have covered the planet with a layer 300 meters deep if they had spread out, while depositing molecules essential to life , reports New Scientist.
How to tell the difference between a normal black hole and a wormhole-Physicists have figured out how to see if a black hole is actually a wormhole that could theoretically be traversed – but we can’t tell that yet with the black holes we’ve observed, reports New Scientist.
Sun-like star discovered orbiting Earth’s closest black hole reports Astronomy.com – “Located just under 1,600 light years away, the discovery suggests that there may be a significant population of dormant black holes in binary systems.”
White dwarf study suggests planets are as old as their stars.–“Astronomers have long known how planets form, but when this has always been uncertain. If a Cambridge University team’s conclusion from a study of white dwarf stars turns out to be correct, that question has been answered,” reports The Register.
A better way to search for extraterrestrial life-An airborne chemical sends a distinctive biological signal, SciTechDaily reports, “Broccoli, along with many other plants and microorganisms, release gases to aid in the elimination of toxins. These gases, according to scientists, could provide strong evidence that there is life on other planets.
What’s the real reason you can’t go faster than the speed of light? Big Think asks. “Space and time are unified into a single entity known as spacetime. And every object travels through spacetime at the speed of light. Even a stationary object moves at the speed of light, but it only moves in time and not in space.
Invisible numbers are the most beautiful part of every “spatial” image–We are drawn to breathtaking images of the sky, but there is beauty in the sheer number of those images, reports Fabio Pacucci for Scientific American.
NASA Artemis Moon Rocket Launch Highlights –-The uncrewed mission overcame failed launches, hurricanes and late launch pad drama to kick off a key test of America’s ability to return astronauts to the moon, The New York Times reports.
Great Filter means we could die before we discover extraterrestrial life, reports the Times of London. “Threats such as nuclear war, climate change and pandemics could wipe out humanity before we have a chance to discover other intelligent life, continuing a cycle that scientists believe may explain why extraterrestrials have no not been found despite decades of searching.”
Would a global conflict follow extraterrestrial contact? asks Supercluster.com – “Anthropologist John Traphagan and geothermal physicist and former US Air Force Major General Ken Wisian have published an article in the journal Space Policy, suggesting that SETI, the search for extraterrestrial intelligence , could be dangerous.However, the threat would not come from alien invaders, but from ourselves and our messy geopolitics.
A meteorite that landed in the Cotswolds could solve the mystery of Earth’s water– “A 4.6 billion year old boulder that crashed into a driveway in Gloucestershire last year has provided some of the most compelling evidence yet that water came to Earth from ‘outer solar system asteroids’, reports The Guardian.
Curated by the Daily Galaxy editorial team
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