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Pretty clever reality check!
planet here
We have some truly epic news.
In fact, there is life on Earth.
A team of American and European scientists confirmed this not-so-surprising observation after simulating the operation of a proposed space telescope and then focusing the telescope on Earth, treating it as a distant exoplanet to see if the instrument could pick up evidence. of life.
In this way, scientists can estimate the future performance of the space telescope, called LIFE or Large Interferometer for Exoplanetswhen it is deployed in space to search for exoplanets similar to ours.
The scientists detailed the findings in a study published in The astronomical magazine. Currently, there is no exact date when construction of the LIFE telescope, supervised by the Swiss university ETH Zürich, would begin, but this document at least shows that its ambitions are viable.
Signs of life
Scientists created a synthetic version of Earth and had a simulated version of the telescope examine it for “biosignatures,” or chemicals in the atmosphere that would indicate life, such as nitrous oxide and methylated halogens.
“These biogenic gases are most consistent with a productive global photosynthetic biosphere,” the scientists write.
The LIFE telescope, which would actually be made up of five satellites working together, would work by capturing infrared radiation in the atmosphere of exoplanets. From this raw data, scientists hope to be able to calculate the chemical composition of the exoplanets’ atmosphere.
He final goal of the ambitious project It involves studying between 30 and 50 exoplanets similar in size to Earth in more detail and seeing if there is any hint of life in their atmospheres. Astronomers will focus their search on systems that are a maximum of 65 light years away from us.
If LIFE is truly implemented, it could go a long way toward answering one of the universe’s biggest mysteries: Are we alone?
More about space telescopes: James Webb detects an “extremely red” black hole