Search For Alien Life Closer With Technique To Analyze Planets
NASA scientists were able to analyze the makeup of distant planets in other solar systems using a technique that could one day be used to find life on other planets, astronomers said Wednesday.
Teams of scientists used the space-based Spitzer infrared telescope to measure the spectra, or light emissions, of two giant, gaseous planets, trillions of kilometres away from Earth. By breaking the light given off by the planets into different wavelengths, the scientists could analyze their chemical composition.
The two planets – known as HD 189733b, 63 light years away in the constellation Vulpecula, and HD 209458b, 154 light years away in the constellation Pegasus – are so-called hot-Jupiters, gaseous planets like Jupiter, but located much closer to their suns.
At a teleconference, scientists involved in the project said that more powerful telescopes could likely use the same technique to examine smaller, rocky planets, which could be more Earth-like.