Astronomers no longer ask if there is life elsewhere in the universe,
but the question in their minds is when will we be able to find it?
Most of the experts hope that within our lifetimes, perhaps within the next few years, we will be able to detect signs of life somewhere in the universe.
A scientist leading an upcoming mission to Jupiter says he we would be surprised if any of the planet's many icy moons lack life. NASA's James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) recently discovered unusual signs of life on a planet outside our solar system and is now looking at the universe where life could potentially exist.
Many such missions are either currently underway or about to be launched, and we now have the technology and capability to answer the question, 'Are we alone in the universe?"
'Goldilocks Zone'
Through telescopes far away from our world, these telescopes look for chemicals that at least on Earth can only be produced by living organisms.
One such discovery was made in early September of 2023. A planet 120 light-years away from Earth, called Keto-18b, was discovered to contain a gas that normally produced marine life on Earth.
This planet falls in what astronomers call the
'Goldilocks Zone'. It is the part that exists at a suitable distance from its
star that ensures the presence of liquid water that is necessary for the
existence of life.
The extra-ordinary evidences are originally authentic or no longer exist and were only around for a while. The Professor Nikko Madhusudhan of Cambridge University's Institute of Astronomy is leading the research. He says that if we find signs of life on the first planet in our research, it will illuminate the possibility of life in the universe (beyond Earth).
If his team doesn't find signs of life on
Keto-18b, his team has 10 more planets in the Goldilocks zone to investigate,
and possibly many more.
The Professor Madhusudhan predicts that within FIVE YEARS there will be a major shift in our thinking about life in the universe.
Their research is one of several projects that
are looking for signs of life in the universe, some of them on other planets in
our solar system, while others are in deep space.
NASA's Jimmy Webb
Telescope, while powerful, is also limited in some respects. The size of the
Earth and its distance from the Sun ensure the existence of life here. However,
the James Webb Telescope at unusual distances from Earth has detected planets
about the same mass as Earth (Keto-18b is eight times larger than Earth) or, if
the planets are orbiting stars, the same distance from the stars as Earth. If
it is from the Sun, this telescope will not be able to see it due to the
brightness of these stars.
Therefore, NASA plans
to have the Habitable World Observatory (HWO) operational in the 2030s. It will
be a highly effective and advanced ‘Sun Shield' that will greatly reduce the
light from the star the planet is orbiting. This means it will be able to
identify the atmospheres of Earth-like planets as well as obtain samples of
them.
The Extremely Large Telescope (ELT) is also slated to become
operational later this decade, surveying space in the clear atmosphere from the
Chilean desert.
The mirror installed in it is 39 meters in diameter that is the largest
mirror ever found in any instrument. This is why it will be able to study
planetary environments in much greater detail than all previous telescopes.
The three telescopes that analyze the atmosphere use a technique that
chemists have used for hundreds of years to identify chemicals in materials by
the light they emit.
However, these telescopes are powerful enough to examine even a tiny
ray of light from the atmosphere of a planet orbiting a star hundreds of
light-years away.
Where many astronomers believe the most likely possibility for life
among the planets in our own solar system, other than distant planets, is on
Jupiter's moon Europa, one of its many icy moons. Beneath the surface is an
ocean, from which water vapor escapes into space.
Professor Michelle Doherty, the leading scientist of the European
mission, was asked if there is any possibility of finding life in her opinion.
He replied that it would be a surprise if life did not exist on one of
Jupiter's icy moons.
NASA is also sending a spacecraft called 'Dragonfly" to land on Titan, one of Saturn's moons.
Mars is currently considered inhospitable for life, but astronomers
believe that this planet was once greener than our Earth, with dense forests
and oceans, making it the perfect environment for life to exist.
Are aliens trying to reach us?
Finding chemical signatures from distant environments, interesting
readings from the passage of certain objects near the Moon, and microfossils
from Mars also raise questions, says Dr. Cabrol. Searching for a signal can
seem like the most difficult of all the different ways to look for signs of
life.
.Imagine we get a signal that we can actually understand ",She says"
"Thirty years ago we had no evidence of planets orbiting other
stars," She added. More than 5,000 planets have now been discovered that
astronomers often have studied in unprecedented detail.
Dr. Sobhujit of Cardiff University is a member of the team studying
Keto-18b. All those things, he says, are ours for such a possible discovery are
ahead which can lead to an incredible scientific breakthrough.
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