Life outside Earth is possible and finding the right planet is only a matter of time

Weather of Arabia - The idea of extraterrestrial life has become closer than ever before in the eyes of scientists, and finding the right planet is a matter of time and no more, and the question on everyone’s mind has become, “When will we find it?” One scientist goes so far as to say that it would be "surprising" if there was no life on one of Jupiter's icy moons.

Life outside Earth is possible

Recently, the James Webb Telescope discovered puzzling signs about the possibility of life on a planet outside our solar system.

Current and future missions currently represent a space race to discover the largest scientific experiment ever, and according to Professor Catherine Heymans, an honorary Scottish astronomer: “We live in an infinite universe, with an infinite number of stars and planets. It is clear to many of us that we "We can't be the only intelligent life out there." She added: "We now have the technology and the ability to answer the question of whether we are alone in the universe."

Signs from the "Goldilocks" planets

Current telescopes are able to analyze the atmospheres of planets orbiting distant stars, with the aim of searching for chemicals that can only be produced by living organisms, at least as known on Earth.

The first possible sign of a gas normally produced by marine organisms on Earth was discovered on a planet known as K2-18b, a planet eight times larger than Earth and 120 light-years away from us. This planet is located in an area known as the “temperate zone”, where conditions are suitable for the presence of liquid water, which is a basic condition for the existence of life.

The scientific team expects that these exciting signals regarding the presence of gas in the atmosphere of planet K2-18b will be confirmed or denied within the next year.

What if signs of life were found on planet K2-18b?

Professor Nico Madhusudan, who led the study and is from the Institute of Space Science at the University of Cambridge, said: “If these signals are confirmed, it will have a radical impact on how we think about searching for life in the universe. He added: "If signs of life are discovered on the first planet we study, it will increase the possibility that life exists elsewhere in the universe."

If no signs of life are found on K2-18b, they have a list of 10 other planets to study, and perhaps more in the future. He believes that not finding signs of life either will provide important insights into the possibility of life existing on similar planets.

This project is one of many ongoing or planned in the coming years to search for signs of life in the universe. Some target planets in our solar system, while others search farther into outer space. Although NASA's James Webb Space Telescope is powerful, it has limitations in its capabilities.

The role of NASA telescopes in discovering habitable planets

Despite the power of NASA's James Webb Space Telescope, its capabilities are limited. The size of planet Earth and its proximity to the sun provide suitable conditions for life on its surface. But the James Webb Telescope will not be able to detect small planets as distant as Earth or planets close to their parent stars, because it is affected by glare.

Therefore, NASA is planning to create an Observatory of Habitable Worlds, which is scheduled to be launched in the 2030s. This observatory will use a high-tech solar shield to reduce the glare of the star around which the planet orbits, which will allow it to monitor and analyze the atmospheres of Earth-like planets.

The giant telescope will also be available on the ground in the Chilean desert later this decade. This telescope contains the largest telescopic mirror ever built, with a diameter of 39 metres, allowing it to see much greater detail than previous telescopes.

These three telescopes will use an ancient technique known as spectroscopy to analyze the atmosphere, which is used to identify chemicals within materials by analyzing the light they emit. Its resolving ability is so precise that it can be detected by analyzing even the smallest point of light emitted by the atmosphere of a planet hundreds of light-years away.

Habitable planets near Earth

While some continue to search for distant planets, others focus their efforts on studying the planets of our solar system. One possible place for life to exist is Europa , one of Jupiter's icy moons. Europa has a surface covered in fissures resembling tiger stripes and beneath it is an ocean of water from which plumes of water vapor shoot out into space. NASA and ESA's Clipper and Juice missions, respectively, aim to explore Europa and understand its environment.

There's also the Dragonfly mission that NASA is sending to land on one of Saturn's moons, Titan . Titan is an alien planet with lakes and clouds made up of carbon-rich chemicals. These chemicals, along with water, are thought to be essential ingredients for life.

As for Mars , it is currently considered an unsuitable environment for living organisms, but it was once thought to have had a more fertile environment with a thick atmosphere and oceans, and there may be evidence that there was water on Mars in the past.

NASA's Perseverance rover is currently collecting samples from a crater that was thought to have been an ancient river delta. A separate mission in the 2030s will bring those rocks back to Earth to analyze them for possible microfossils of simple life forms that have long since disappeared.

Finding life outside Earth is a huge scientific achievement

Searching for signs of life in the universe is an important part of astronomical and scientific exploration. Although this question can seem like a difficult aspiration, it reflects the natural human desire to understand one's place in the universe and to seek answers to fundamental questions about life and existence.

Thanks to technological advances in the field of astronomy and space science, it has become possible to direct efforts more precisely towards searching for signs of life in the universe. Improving telescopes and the use of advanced techniques such as chemical wave analysis and optical analysis have given scientists powerful tools to study planets and space objects in new ways.

If signs of life were found on one of the distant planets, it would be a huge scientific achievement and would change our perceptions of the universe and life. This will also help guide our future efforts to better understand and explore the universe.

The search for signs of life in the universe is just one aspect of astronomical and scientific exploration. It encourages the development of technology and scientific methods and opens new horizons for thinking and research.

Sources: bbc