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Over a short period of the last 10 years, scientists have detected thousands of other planets. can host life outside our solar system, but the question that many of them ask themselves is whether they would be able to spot that potential life if it was actually there.
To try to determine the best way to search Life on other planets, scientists working in the fields of geology, astronomy and biology formed the new NASA research group known as Nexus for Exoplanet System Science (NExSS), as reported Universal Sci . Their ambitious goal is to learn to distinguish life on other planets that may be very different from those we know.
NExSS has recently published five different articles on topics such as the detection and interpretation of biosignatures on other topics. Scientists working with this NASA group are also eager to learn about the different instruments that would be most useful for detecting life in other worlds. , which would certainly be useful for future government missions.
However, since we are not currently on the road to other planets, all scientists must continue their telescopic observations of light outside our solar system. Studying the gases hiding in the atmosphere of distant planets and observing if they change over time is the main means by which scientists can currently know if other planets have the potential to accommodate life. .
Will we know life? NASA-led group takes control of science https://t.co/BHkubjWI3P
– World and Science (@WorldAndScience) 11 July 2018
While scientists can certainly look for biosignatures specific for a possible life on other planets on Earth, it is important to remember that the vast majority of these planets will be much more cool stars orbit than our sun, and that the light of these stars will appear in the infrared spectrum.
According to microbiologist and astrobiologist Mary Parenteau, researchers will have to keep an open mind when they will examine the potential of life in other worlds.
"What does a living planet look like? We need to be open to the possibility that life can arise in many contexts in a galaxy with so many different worlds – perhaps with the life of purple color instead of the familiar life forms dominated by the green on Earth, for example . That's why we consider a wide range of biosignatures. "
And while the search for oxygen on other planets may seem to be one of the best indicators of life, a discernible lack of oxygen does not rule out necessarily life, Washington astronomer, Victoria Meadows, explains: "On the primitive Earth, we could not see oxygen, despite the abundant life. Oxygen teaches us that seeing or not seeing a single biosignature is insufficient evidence for or against life – the general context is important. 19659012 NASA scientists at Nexus for Exoplanet System Science believe that rather than looking at a specific trait for extraterrestrial Focus on a lot of these traits.They aim to create a framework that will distinguish how much the odds are that a planet is able to accommodate life.
According to the l & # 39; astrobiologist Shawn Domagal-Goldman of NASA, it would be impossible for scientists to answer yes or no.As to whether a planet holds life, through careful observations, scientists should at least have a high degree of assurance of this possibility
"We will not have" yes "or" no "to find life elsewhere. What we will have is a high level of trust that a planet appears alive for reasons that can only be explained by the presence of life. "
The five papers on the hunt for other planets by Nexus for Exoplanet System Science were published in the journal Astrobiology .
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