Will NASA know the extraterrestrials if they look them in the face? NASA will she know the extraterrestrials if they look them in the face?

We would probably recognize life as we know it, whatever the distance, but what about life as we know it?

Nexus for the Science of Exoplanet Systems (NexSS) Gathers Astronomers, Biologists and Geologists are not only looking for extraterrestrials, they define what a planet teeming with life could look physically and chemically – even if it looks like nothing from the Earth.

Rocky and temperate exoplanets like ours are scattered all over the Milky Way. There could be some who seem to have all the good biosignatures but who are hostile to life. There could be some that might appear sterile and hostile until we realize that there is a hidden life that follows a different and much more unexpected set of rules that do not include necessarily oxygen respiration or photosynthesis of certain wavelengths of light. What does a living planet look like? Asked NASA astrobiologist and microbiologist Mary Parenteau, who recently co-authored five review articles on the subject. "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 a life of purple color instead of the dominant green life forms on Earth, for example. That's why we are considering a wide range of biosignatures. "

Green indicates life on Earth. Could it mean death on other planets?

Parenteau and his colleagues did an inventory of biosignatures and tried to understand how they should be interpreted if they appeared on extraterrestrial worlds. They are also studying instruments that would be optimal for detecting anything that might be life, because the imminent cosmic question is how to distinguish a living planet or moon.

Titan's methane and ethane lakes may be toxic to us, but there has been a lot of speculation that there could be some kind of life forms swimming in these extraterrestrial waters.

Telescopes will need to upgrade and focus if we want to at least try to find an answer. Observatories such as the giant Magellan telescope, the Extremely Large telescope and NASA's James Webb space telescope – no other delay – could analyze the atmospheric composition of some of these rocky planets. Since we will not move on any of these planets soon, we must rely on the ability of a telescope to observe the light that is reflected on the types of gases that swirl in their atmospheres.

"We will not have a" yes "or" no "answer to find life elsewhere," said NASA astrobiologist Shawn Domagal-Goldman. "What we will have will be a high level of trust that a planet appears alive for reasons that can only be explained by the presence of life. "

Which means that life elsewhere in the vast expanse of space could be something sci-fi movies ever dreamed.

(via NASA)