via Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
Humanity is on the threshold of being able to detect signs of alien life on other worlds.
By studying exoplanet atmospheres, we can look for gases like oxygen and methane that only coexist if replenished by life. But those gases come from simple life forms like microbes. What about advanced civilizations? Would they leave any detectable signs?
They might, if they spew industrial pollution into the atmosphere. New research by theorists at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (CfA) shows that we could spot the fingerprints of certain pollutants under ideal conditions. This would offer a new approach in the search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI).
“We consider industrial pollution as a sign of intelligent life, but perhaps civilizations more advanced than us, with their own SETI programs, will consider pollution as a sign of unintelligent life since it’s not smart to contaminate your own air,” says Harvard student and lead author Henry Lin.
“People often refer to ETs as ‘little green men,’ but the ETs detectable by this method should not be labeled ‘green’ since they are environmentally unfriendly,” adds Harvard co-author Avi Loeb.
The team, which also includes Smithsonian scientist Gonzalo Gonzalez Abad, finds that the upcoming James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) should be able to detect two kinds of chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) — ozone-destroying chemicals used in solvents and aerosols. They calculated that JWST could tease out the signal of CFCs if atmospheric levels were 10 times those on Earth. A particularly advanced civilization might intentionally pollute the atmosphere to high levels and globally warm a planet that is otherwise too cold for life.
There is one big caveat to this work. JWST can only detect pollutants on an Earth-like planet circling a white dwarf star, which is what remains when a star like our Sun dies. That scenario would maximize the atmospheric signal. Finding pollution on an Earth-like planet orbiting a Sun-like star would require an instrument beyond JWST — a next-next-generation telescope.
Read more . . .
The Latest on: Search for extraterrestrial intelligence
via Google News
The Latest on: Search for extraterrestrial intelligence
- Humans Are Making It Harder to Listen for Possible Alienson July 2, 2022 at 5:36 pm
Are we alone in the universe? In the decades since scientists first started listening for alien signals, improvements in telescope technology and data processing have bolstered the search.
- Migration Among Extraterrestrial Civilizations and Colonizationon July 2, 2022 at 7:00 am
One of the most fascinating yet mysterious facts about space exploration is the existence of extraterrestrial life. There is always a big debate about the | Chemistry And Physics ...
- Humans are making it hard to listen for alienson July 2, 2022 at 6:55 am
Increasing demands for mobile services and wireless internet have crowded the radio spectrum, creating interference that can skew data and add “noise” to scientific results.
- SETI's Search for Alien Life Has Entered a New Eraon June 29, 2022 at 11:13 pm
The Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence, or SETI, has come a long way. I write these words an hour before the beginning of the first Penn State SETI symposium, a four-day meeting that marks ...
- Why There’s a Chance We Heard From Aliens Back in 1977on June 28, 2022 at 4:01 am
A loud, peculiar signal detected by scientists 45 years ago is getting a second look—and renewing hopes that we found extraterrestrial life.
- Did a giant radio telescope in China just discover aliens? Not so FAST…on June 27, 2022 at 3:37 am
Sky Eye, which is offically known as the Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical Telescope (FAST), is the the largest and most sensitive single-dish radio telescope in the world. A engineering marvel, ...
- How ‘Big Data’ could help SETI researchers intensify the search for alien civilizationson June 22, 2022 at 1:52 pm
Could far-off aliens be sending out signals telling us they exist? If so, how would we know where to look? Researchers focusing on the search for extraterrestrial intelligence, or SETI, have laid out ...
via Bing News
