Recent studies challenge the long-held belief that the Milky Way is a standard model for understanding galaxy formation, revealing unique differences in its structure and evolution compared to its galactic peers.

The SAGA Survey has begun to uncover these discrepancies by studying over 100 Milky Way-like galaxies, shedding light on the complex role of dark matter and the diverse evolutionary paths of galaxies.

  • catloaf@lemm.ee
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    5 days ago

    I’m gonna be pretty sad if it turns out we really are all alone

    • athairmor@lemmy.world
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      5 days ago

      They’re talking about galaxy formation. There’s no obvious implications for the formation of life.

      That said, we are already alone. And there’s a good chance we always will be whether other sapient life forms are out there or not. That’s not sad, we’re just lucky we’re here at all.

    • bluGill@fedia.io
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      5 days ago

      we cannot know - the universe is big enough that for large parts of it if a planet formed 100% identical to us that light from its star hasn’t reached us yet.

      • palordrolap@fedia.io
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        5 days ago

        It’s not just that. There could be thousands of civilisations of Earth-like life in our own galaxy and we have literally no way to detect them.

        Our current exoplanet detection abilities extend only to systems with some very specific peculiarities, and our Solar system doesn’t have any of them.

    • FaceDeer@fedia.io
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      5 days ago

      I’d be happy with it. It means that the universe is ours for the taking and the future will belong to our descendants.

      If there are already intelligent aliens “out there” then they’ve got millions or billions of years’ head start on us and we’ll never catch up, we’d be completely at their mercy.

    • moncharleskey
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      5 days ago

      In an infinite universe we could never confidently say we are alone.

    • sepi@piefed.social
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      5 days ago

      Man surrounded by a ton of other species in his own planet where he actually lives feels all alone. News at 11.

  • Optional@lemmy.world
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    5 days ago

    “No one knows what dark matter is made of,” Wechsler said. “It doesn’t interact with ordinary matter or light. There’s probably dark matter running through you right now and you don’t even know it.”

    Far out, man.