A new preprint study says that the James Webb Space Telescope could spot signs of alien life in as little as a day.
One researcher has been looking into the potential of the JWST in terms of the transmission spectroscopy it could carry out, a promising method for detecting the composition of a planet's atmosphere by the way that light from a neighboring star passes through it.
The example of TRAPPIST-1e, an exoplanet we know to be a promising candidate for biosignatures, or signs of alien life, was used by astronomer Thomas Mikal-Evans to work out how long it would take the JWST to detect methane and carbon dioxide. He made the results available on the arXiv before peer review.
A combination of CH4 and CO2 can be found in as little as five transits, depending on a number of variables. It takes over 20 hours to go from 4.3 hours per transit to 20 hours in total.
"If TRAPPIST-1e has an atmospheric composition similar to that of the Archean Earth, strong detections for both CH4 and CO2 are possible for transit 5-10 observations under the assumption of well-behaved instrumental noise and neglecting the effect of stellar variability," writes Mikal-Evans
The presence of CH4 and CO2 around TRAPPIST-1e isn't the smoking gun of alien presence, but it's the sort of evidence that astronomy looks for when searching the skies for biosignatures.
It could take more than 200 hours to get a proper reading, depending on factors such as how cloudy the atmosphere ends up being. The exoplanet may have a different atmospheric composition.
The result is still exciting. The results of his research show that the telescope can be used to hunt for biosignatures in the atmospheres of distant alien planets.
Desiree Stover is a NASA scientist.
The James E. Webb Space Telescope is a joint venture between NASA, the European Space Agency, and the Canadian Space Agency.
The space agencies are trying to get the JWST into the right place. The launch of the telescope has been delayed due to unexpected vibrations caused by the release of the band. It's still possible that blast off can happen on December 22.
The telescope has been pushed back before. The telescope was originally going to be launched in 2007, but was delayed due to a lack of funding.
The latest issue of a global Pandemic is one of the many delays, costing issues, and technical challenges that have got in the way. The base for the telescope is in French Guiana.
When the JWST does get up into space, it will be able to see things that Hubble can't see, such as signs of the early Universe. A golden mirror is at its center.
We're very much looking forward to what the JWST finds first, and hopefully by the end of the year, it should have left Earth.
The biosignature study preprints are available on arXiv.
