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SETI: A new method to detect oxygen on exoplanets

SETI: A new method to detect oxygen on exoplanets

Conceptual image of water-bearing (left) and dry (right) exoplanets with oxygen-rich atmospheres. The red sphere is the M-dwarf star around which the exoplanets orbit. The dry exoplanet is closer to the star, so the star appears larger. (NASA/GSFC/Friedlander-Griswold)

Article Highlights
  • Scientists have developed a new method for detecting oxygen in exoplanet atmospheres that may accelerate the search for life.
  • One possible indication of life, or biosignature, is the presence of oxygen in an exoplanet’s atmosphere.
  • UC Riverside helped develop the new technique, which will use NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope to detect a strong signal that oxygen molecules produce when they collide. This signal could help scientists distinguish between living and nonliving planets.
  • “Oxygen is one of the most exciting molecules to detect because of its link with life, but we don’t know if life is the only cause of oxygen in an atmosphere,” Schwieterman said. “This technique will allow us to find oxygen in planets both living and dead.”
  • Intriguingly, some researchers propose oxygen can also make an exoplanet appear to host life when it does not, because it can accumulate in a planet’s atmosphere without any life activity at all.
  • “It is important to know whether and how much dead planets generate atmospheric oxygen, so that we can better recognize when a planet is alive or not,” he said.

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