this post was submitted on 15 Sep 2023
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Webb finds molecule only made by living things in another world::undefined

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[–] FlyingSquid 10 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Technically, this is astrochemistry, not astronomy. I don't know what the expected sigma value there is.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago

It’s 3 plus/minus 1 sigma

[–] Womble 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Whats less than 0 sigma? I kid but only a little Astrochemistry is fantastically difficult, it involves large networks of reactions, many of which have multiple orders of magnitudes of uncertainty on their rates. Different groups can tey to model the same conditions and end up with over a factor of 1000 difference in the abundences of key tracer speices.

[–] FlyingSquid 1 points 1 year ago

That's why I'm positive but not excited yet. It's a good sign. We need to see if detecting it can be replicated... although I'm not sure how to do that except with the Webb again.