Could there be life in space? Scientists hope the James Webb Space Telescope will help them get closer to the answer.
Astronomers have not yet found a solar system like ours. And of the thousands of known exoplanets, none match the planets in our cosmic backyard. But scientists have only just begun scratching the surface of these outer-solar planets. The next step is to look into it.
Webb will peer into the atmospheres of exoplanets, some of which are potentially habitable. Ever since the first exoplanets were discovered in the 1990s, many have wondered if we might find another Earth there, a place called Planet B.
So far, the study of these bodies hasn’t revealed any other Earth, and it’s unlikely that even with technology like the Webb, there won’t be a “true Earth analog,” said Klaus Pontoppidan, Webb project scientist at the Space Telescope Science Institute. Baltimore.
Signs of life: The Webb telescope will look into the atmospheres of exoplanets orbiting stars much smaller than our sun. These planets are connected with an intriguing idea: What if life outside Earth turns out differently? And it’s something the successors to this telescope could explore in the coming decades.
In fact, the task of identifying signs of life on other planets is already planned for future telescopes, such as the one outlined in the recently released Astro2020 decadal study that will look at 25 potentially habitable exoplanets.
“I kind of want us to be able to find life on something not much like Earth,” said Nikole Lewis, an astrophysicist and assistant professor of astronomy at Cornell University.
Life, as we understand it, needs energy, fluid and the right temperature, she said. What happens if a potential sign of life is detected? Finding the sign is fantastic — and figuring out the next step is crucial, said Sara Seager, an astrophysicist, planetary scientist and professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
If it is determined that there was no other way to create a potential sign of life, collaboration will be an important aspect, Lewis said. Working with chemists, biologists and people from various disciplines outside of astronomy and planetary science can set the way forward.
“I hope that we will be careful and that we will work with all relevant experts to try to understand if this is in fact a signature that could just mean that there is life on this planet, and then hopefully something like that for it.” audience,” Lewis said.
Jill Tarter, astronomer and former director of the Center for SETI Research, believes the answer to finding life may depend on technosignatures rather than biosignatures, because evidence of past or current technology “is potentially a lot less ambiguous.” “.
Biosignatures can be gases or molecules that show signs of life. Techno signatures are signals that can be created by intelligent life.
Read more about the search for life in space here.
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