AdvertisementPractically, the search for life beyond Earth is usually confined to our own galaxy, the only space within which we’d have a chance of detecting it. If life is rare, maybe we’re alone within the Milky Way, but these JWST images invite us to zoom out and out and out. The Deep Field image doesn’t offer new information about the size or age of the universe, but it makes the vastness visible.
8 billion years.” Scharf said he shares that, but offered a caveat: “until we know what the probability of life’s emergence is we really cannot say this ‘scientifically’ since it hinges entirely on assumptions.” Meaning, you can’t extrapolate an event’s likelihood when you have only one example of its occurrence.Ample room doesn’t necessitate occupation. Part of the problem is age.