Could there be life in space? Scientists hope the James Webb Space Telescope will help them get closer to the answer.
Astronomers have yet to find a solar system like our own. And of the thousands of known alien planets, none coincide with the planets in our cosmic backyard. But scientists are just beginning to scratch the surface of planets outside the solar system. The next step is to look inside them.
Webb will look at the atmospheres of alien planets, some of which are potentially habitable. Ever since the first alien planets were discovered in the 1990s, many have wondered if we could find another Earth out there, one known as Planet B.
So far, research on these objects has not revealed another Earth, and it’s unlikely that even with technology like Webb, there wouldn’t be, said Klaus Pontoppidan, Webb project scientist at Space. “a real Earth analogue”. The Institute of Telescope Science in Baltimore.
Signs of life: The Webb telescope will look inside the atmospheres of exoplanets orbiting stars much smaller than our sun. These planets are connected with a fascinating idea: What if life happened other than Earth? And that’s what the telescope’s successors can study for decades to come.
In fact, the mission to identify signs of life on other planets is already planned for future telescopes, such as the telescope outlined in Astro2020 decadence survey recently released that would consider 25 habitable exoplanets.
“I really wish we could find life on something that doesn’t look very much like Earth,” said Nikole Lewis, astrophysicist and assistant professor of astronomy at Cornell University.
Life, as we understand it, needs energy, fluids and the right temperature, she said. What happens when a latent sign of life is discovered? Sara Seager, an astrophysicist, planetary scientist and professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, says finding the sign is amazing – and figuring out the next step is crucial.
If it is determined that there is no other way to produce a potential sign of life, then cooperation will be an important aspect, Lewis said. Interactions with chemists, biologists, and people from different fields beyond astronomy and planetary science can determine the way forward.
“I hope that we will be careful and we will engage with all relevant experts to try to understand if this is a fact, a signature can only mean there is life on the planet. this planet, and then hopefully so informed Lewis said.
Jill Tarter, astronomer and former director of the SETI Research Center, believes that the answer to finding life may be based on technological anatomy, rather than biological anatomy, because of the evidence of life. past or present technology “has the potential to be a lot less ambiguous.”
The biological form can be a gas or a molecule with signs of life. Technosignatures are signals that can be generated by intelligent life.
Read more about the search for life in space here.
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