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Vega Older Than Thought: Mature Enough To Nurture Life

Posted by Unknown on from the goa'uld-staging-center dept.

sciencehabit writes about new estimates of Vega's age giving hope that any planets it might have are old enough to harbor life. From the article: "Shining just 25 light-years from Earth in the constellation Lyra, Vega is the fifth brightest star in the night sky. In 1983, astronomers discovered dust orbiting the star, suggesting it had a solar system, and Carl Sagan chose to make Vega the source of a SETI signal in his 1985 novel Contact. At the time, Vega was thought to be only about a couple hundred million years old, probably too young for any planets to have spawned life. Since then, however, estimates of Vega's age have increased to between 625 million and 850 million years old. So suitable planets have probably had sufficient time to develop primitive life." With improvements in telescopes allowing detection of the rough atmospheric composition of exoplanets on the way, this could be pretty exciting.

4 of 130 comments (clear)

  1. If not by Roachie · · Score: 5, Funny

    ... then its a great waste of space!

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    This sig is not paradoxical or ironic.
    1. Re:If not by Roachie · · Score: 5, Funny

      Yea, there is some law of the cosmos that causes you to royally fuck up your grammar when criticizing spelling/typing of others.

      Never flails.

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      This sig is not paradoxical or ironic.
  2. Re:Conquest by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    The Vegans should not pose a problem for us. Their strict adherence to a non-carnivorous lifestyle, shunning even protein rich foods like cheese and eggs, ensures that we would be able to beat them in a fair fight.

  3. Re:Pretty damn young planets by dryeo · · Score: 5, Funny

    Dolphins aren't intelligent?

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    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inverted_totalitarianism