Scientists claim that alien life could be found in a short time thanks to our advanced technology

NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has also recently sighted exoplanets Signs of life detected, and has countless other possibilities among his targets. Telescopes can now analyze the atmospheres of planets orbiting distant stars, looking for chemicals that, on Earth at least, can only be produced by living organisms. The first message about the discovery came earlier this month. Which is 120 light years away from us A possible sign of a gas produced by simple marine organisms on Earth has been discovered in the atmosphere of a planet called K2-18b.

Temperate zone, habitable zone

The planet is located in what astronomers call the “Goldilocks zone” (which… Refers to a popular children’s story in the English-speaking world), that is, at an appropriate distance from its star so that the surface temperature is neither too hot nor too cold, but enough for it to have liquid water, which is necessary for the continuation of life.

The research team wants to know within a year whether the exciting signs have been confirmed or have disappeared. Professor Nico Madhusudan from the University of Cambridge’s Institute of Astronomy, who led the study, said: If the signals can be confirmed, they will radically change our ideas about the search for life.

Finding signs of life on the first planet examined increases the possibility that life is common in the universe

– Tell.

The professor predicts that within five years there will be a “big change” in our ideas about life in the universe. If his team finds no signs of life on K2-18b, they have 10 more planets on their list, with more to come.

Although NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope is powerful, it has limitations. NASA therefore expects to make significant progress with the operation of the Habitable Worlds Observatory (HWO), planned for the 2030s. This effectively reduces the light from the star orbiting the planet using a high-tech sunshade. This means that will be able to detect And to sample the atmospheres of planets like us.

Also in this decade, the European Southern Observatory (ESO) will be put into operation. Extremely Large Telescope (ELT)Which will stand on the ground and overlook the clear Chilean desert sky. It contains the largest mirror with a diameter of 39 meters among devices built to date. So you can see more details amazing Ability to analyze images Through the atmospheres of the planets like its predecessors.

“We will find aliens in twenty years” – according to the famous astronomer, science is getting closer to the big discovery

Of the planets in our solar system, the most likely home for life is one of Jupiter’s icy moons, Europa. It is a beautiful world, with cracks forming a stunning pattern on its surface. Beneath the icy surface of Europe is an ocean from which plumes of water vapor shoot out into space. NASA’s Clipper mission and ESA’s Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (Juice) mission will arrive there in the early 2030s.

Shortly after the Goss mission was approved in 2012, Professor Michelle Dougherty, the European mission’s principal scientist, thought it would be surprising if there was no life on one of Jupiter’s icy moons.

NASA is also sending a spacecraft called Dragonfly to land on one of Saturn’s moons, Titan. It is a strange world with lakes and clouds of carbon-rich chemicals that cover the celestial body in a strange orange haze. Along with water, these chemicals are thought to be the building blocks of life.

Mars is currently considered very inhospitable to life, but astrobiologists believe the planet once had a fertile, dense atmosphere and oceans extending across its surface, capable of supporting life.

the NASA Perseverance The rover is currently collecting samples from Jezero Crater, which is believed to have once been an ancient river delta. In the 2030s, a separate mission will bring these rocks back to Earth to analyze them for possible microfossils of simple life forms that have long since disappeared.

Reality and science fiction

Some scientists have suggested that aliens are trying to contact us, It is considered in the realm of science fiction or a remote possibilityBut the search for radio signals from alien worlds has been going on for decades, City Institute by.

According to Dr. Natalie Cabrol, Director of the SETI Carl Sagan Center, studying the atmospheres of exoplanets has given new impetus to the study of life in the universe. The institute has upgraded its telescope system and now uses instruments to search for connections of powerful laser pulses from distant planets.

Searching for signs may seem like the most daring of the various ways to find life. But this would be the most obvious and could happen at any time. Let’s imagine that we have a signal that we can actually understand

Cabrol said.

Thirty years ago we had no evidence of planets orbiting other stars. More than 5,000 exoplanets have been discovered so far, which astronomers and astrobiologists can study in unprecedented detail. We have every chance of finding life outside Earth.