The Conversation contributed the article to Space.com's expert voices.
Chris Impey is a professor of astronomy at the University of Arizona.
There are many ingredients for life in the universe. While Earth is the only place in the universe with life, detecting life beyond Earth is a major goal of modern astronomy.
Two scientists are studying exoplanets and Astrobiology Researchers like us will soon be able to measure the chemical makeup of atmospheres of planets around other stars thanks to next- generation telescopes. One or more of these planets may have a chemical signature of life.
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There could be life in the solar system where there is liquid water. It's difficult to find life in these places, as they are hard to reach and you have to send a probe to get a sample.
It's possible that life will first be found on a planet that's outside our solar system.
There are hundreds of millions of potentially habitable planets in the universe and several of them are within 30 light-years of Earth. Astronomers have discovered over 5,000 exoplanets and used indirect methods to measure how a planet affects its nearby star. Astronomers can get information on the mass and size of an exoplanet, but it's not much.
Astrobiologists will look for starlight that has interacted with a planet's surface or atmosphere. The light may carry a clue if the atmosphere was changed by life.
Earth had an atmosphere without oxygen for the first half of it's existence. The biosignature of Earth was very faint. When a new family of algae evolved, that changed abruptly. The oxygen produced by the process of photosynthesis is not bond to any other element. The biosignature on light that passes through it has been left by Earth's oxygen filled atmosphere.
The light's wavelength is more likely to be trapped in the gas or material's surface when it bounces off. There is a reason objects are different colors. The leaves are green because of their ability to absorb light. Most of the green light bounces back into your eyes after hitting a leaf.
The composition of the material that the light interacts with determines the pattern of missing light. Calculating the specific color of light that comes from a planet can be used to determine the composition of an exoplanet's atmosphere or surface.
This method can be used to recognize the presence of certain atmospheric gases that are associated with life, such as oxygen or methane. It is possible to detect strange colors on a planet. Plants and algae use the chlorophyll and other pigments to capture the light's wavelength. The characteristic colors produced by these pigments can be detected by using a camera. It is possible to see this color reflecting off the surface of a distant planet.
There are subtle changes to the light coming from a potentially habitable exoplanet. The only telescope capable of such a feat is the new james wbb space telescope JAMES WEBB took a reading of the spectrum of the gas giant exoplanet WASP-96b as it began science operations. Water and clouds were visible in the spectrum, but WASP-96b is not likely to host life.
The data shows that James is able to detect faint chemical signatures in light. TRAPPIST-1e is a planet that is 39 light-years from Earth and is set to be turned into a mirror by the end of the year.
As planets pass in front of their host stars and capture starlight that filters through the planet's atmosphere, Webb can look for biosignatures. The telescope is only able to look at a few of the closest potentially life-supporting worlds. Carbon dioxide, methane and water Vapor can only be detected by it. The strongest signal for life is unbonded oxygen, which is not detected by Webb.
Plans to block the bright light of a planet's host star to reveal starlight reflected back from the planet are one of the leading concepts for the future. The idea is similar to using your hand to block the sun's rays. Small, internal masks or large, external, umbrella-like spaceships could be used to do this. It's easier to study light bouncing off a planet once the starlight is blocked.
Three enormous, ground-based telescopes are under construction that will be able to search for biosignatures. Even though Earth's atmosphere distorts starlight, these telescopes may be able to probe the atmospheres of the closest worlds for oxygen.
Astrobiologists will only be able to detect biosignatures from worlds that have been completely transformed by life, even with the most powerful telescopes of the future.
Most gases released by life can be produced by nonbiological processes. When sunlight splits water into oxygen and hydrogen, it also creates oxygen. Astronomers have a good chance of detecting false positives when searching for distant life. Astronomers will need to understand a planet of interest well enough to understand whether its geologic or atmospheric processes could mimic a biosignature.
The next generation of exoplanet studies has the ability to prove the existence of life. The first data release from the James Webb Space Telescope gives us a glimpse into the future.
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