We probably recognize life as we know it, many light years away, but what about life since we do not know it?
NASA's nexus for the science of the exoplanet system (NexSS) is uniting the leading astronomers, biologists and geologists not only look for extraterrestrials, but define what a planet brimming with life could be seen physically and chemically, even if it does not It looks nothing like Earth.
Rocky and temperate exoplanets like ours are scattered throughout the Milky Way. There may be some who seem to have all the correct biofirms but who are hostile to life. There could be some that might seem sterile and hostile until we realize that there is hidden life in them that follows a different and much more unexpected set of rules that do not necessarily include breathing oxygen or photosynthesis of certain wavelengths of light .
How is a living planet? "Astrobiologist and NASA microbiologist Mary Parenteau, who recently co-authored five review articles on the subject, asked:" We have to be open to the possibility that life may arise in many contexts in a galaxy with so many diverse worlds. , perhaps with purple life instead of familiar forms of life dominated by green on Earth, for example. That is why we are considering a wide range of biofirms. "
Green indicates life on Earth, could it mean death on other planets?"
Parenteau and his colleagues took an inventory of the biofarms and tried to discover how they should be interpreted if they appear on alien worlds. investigating what instruments would be optimal to detect anything that could be life, because the imminent cosmic question is how to distinguish a planet or living moon.
The methane and ethane lakes of Titan may be toxic to us, but there have been a lot of speculation that there might be some kind of life forms swimming in those extraterrestrial waters.
The telescopes will have to level up and get zero if we want to at least try to find an answer .. Observatories like the Magellan Giant Telescope , the Extremely Large Telescope and NASA's James Webb Space Telescope – if you did not experience another delay – could badyze the atmospheric composition of some of those rocky planets. As we will not be walking on any of these planets soon, we have to rely on the ability of a telescope to observe light reflecting what kind of gases swirl in their atmospheres.
"We will not have the answer – yes," or "no" to the search for life elsewhere, "said NASA astrologer Shawn Domagal-Goldman. "What we will have is a high level of confidence that a planet seems alive for reasons that can only be explained by the presence of life."
That is, what qualifies as life elsewhere in the vast expanse of space it could be something even science fiction movies never dreamed.
(via NASA)
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