Astronomers just discovered 72 never-before-seen galaxies using the Multi Unit Spectroscopic Explorer (MUSE) instrument on the ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT)in Chile as part of the deepest spectroscopic survey ever conducted. These galaxies are all located in a relatively small area of space known as the Hubble Ultra Deep Field (HUDF).
Over the last decade, this
area has been the target of a wealth of observation, but it wasn’t until
scientists were able to look at it using MUSE that these 72 galaxies became
visible. This is because these galaxies are Lyman-alpha emitters, meaning they
only shine brightly in one color of light.
Unlike the other telescopes
used to study the HUDF, MUSE uses spectroscopy to break light into its
component colors. “This allows us to measure the distance, colors, and other
properties of all the galaxies we can see — including some that are invisible
to Hubble itself,” Roland Bacon of Lyon Centre for Astrophysics Research (CRAL), who led the MUSE HUDF Survey team, noted in
a news
release.
In addition to revealing
these 72 new galaxies, the MUSE survey also led to the collection of extremely
detailed spectroscopic measurements for 1,600 total galaxies. Using other
ground-based telescopes, astronomers were previously only able to provide such
precise measurements for roughly one-tenth that many galaxies.
Already, the dataset
produced by the MUSE survey has resulted in 10 new scientific papers, all of
which will be published in a special issue of Astronomy &
Astrophysics. They range in topic from how stars formed in the early
universe to how materials flow in and out of galaxies.
Perhaps most exciting of
all, however, is what this data means for our search for extraterrestrial life.
NASA estimates that the
Milky Way is home to between 100 billion and 400 billion stars. If the eight planets in
our Solar System represent the average, it means that our galaxy could house
anywhere from 800 billion to 3.2 trillion planets.
If each of the 72 newly discovered
galaxies boasts the low-end estimate of 100 billion stars and the same average
for planets per Solar System, our hunt for extraterrestrial life could now
include an additional 57.6 trillion planets.
As our view of space
improves, so will our chances of finding life beyond Earth. Several forthcoming
advances in telescope technology will additionally support us expanding on the
MUSE survey by providing a better look at the galaxies it uncovered.
“Future coordinated
observations with the James Webb Space Telescope shall help us to understand
these galaxies,” Bacon told Futurism. The highly anticipated telescope
is excepted to launch in 2019, so scientists won’t have to wait long to
make use of this technology. Once launched, it will allow astronomers to
analyze the atmospheres of exoplanets in far greater detail than they’ve ever
been able to, and they could use that ability to hunt for life within these
newly discovered galaxies.
If the JWST doesn’t turn up
any signs of life, however, the Space Telescope Science Institute’s Advanced Technology Large-Aperture Space Telescope (ATLAST) might. That device is expected
to have a resolution five to 10 times better than the JWST’s, making it
powerful enough to detect biosignatures in the spectra of exoplanets. Ultimately, if finding
extraterrestrial life is a numbers game, humanity’s odds just went way up
thanks to the MUSE survey.
Via Futurism