How to find life in the room – a manual for use

A few decades ago, planets outside our own solar system were only a dream. A theoretical opportunity that has only been found in Star Wars.

Today, we know more than 3500 such spells (even someone who reminds them of Star Wars) and the numbers are likely to increase rapidly in the next few years.

Some of these planets are good candidates for the pursuit of extraterrestrial life: they are Earthstone planets that surround the golden hair around their star. Thus, the temperatures are probably both high enough and low enough for the surface water to run off.

At the speed of this field, it's time to summarize what we know about life signs and make a plan for how to look for it in the future.

And that's exactly what the Nexus for NASA's Exoplanet Systems Science (NExSS) did. In the latest issue of Astrobiology, various research groups published five very comprehensive articles on the subject. Together, they constitute a form of user manual for new and old astrobiologists.

Biosignatures

The planets we have discovered are very far apart. Too far to get there