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3000 light years away... Can we detect if it has life without going there? Even just an yes/no answer would be immensely important.

by ajuc 6y ago

ejolto 6y ago
We could detect oxygen in the atmosphere, which could indicate life, as oxygen will rapidly disappear from the atmosphere through oxidation without life resupplying it. I don't think we have any built or planned telescopes that can detect oxygen 3000 light years away though. This article[1] discusses detecting oxygen in the atmosphere of exoplanets 5 pc away, about 16 light years, using the James Web space telescope that is yet to be launched. [1]: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41550-019-0977-7 https://www.nature.com/articles/s41550-019-0977-7
Xelbair 6y ago
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Absorption_spectroscopy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Absorption_spectroscopy We can detect water, and oxygen in the atmosphere using this method. Plus we can estimate it's temperature based on it's orbit and star's energy. If it is in the habitable zone we can only suspect that it potentially can support life, but we cannot detect if life exists there. Well, even if we could do that we would get data from N years from the past, depending on the distance.
JoeAltmaier 6y ago
Perhaps, if gasses produced by life could be detected? But we've detected life in volcanic vents, in arctic ice, in the upper atmosphere, in pretty much every niche on our own planet. Apparently life is pretty adaptable. So we have some clues already.
- ajuc 6y ago
  Detecting (or not-detecting) life on a planet similar to Earth would be groundbreaking. Currently we know of only 1 instance where life arose, and only 1 planet where it's reasonable to expect it to arise. If we detect life on Mars or Europa it would likely be related to our own, so that's not an independent data point. But if we detect that there's definitely life on a planet 3000 light years away, or if we exclude that possibility - that's a massive change in our model of universe, understanding of Fermi paradox and our origins.
  - JoeAltmaier 6y ago
    Still, life on Earth are of a baffling variety. It seems it rose up in every environment possible for stable carbon. Yes, I'd like to learn of life elsewhere. But life here is amazing too.

3000 light years away... Can we detect if it has life without going there? Even just an yes/no answer would be immensely important.

by ajuc 6y ago

3000 light years away... Can we detect if it has life without going there? Even just an yes/no answer would be immensely important.

ejolto 6y ago

We could detect oxygen in the atmosphere, which could indicate life, as oxygen will rapidly disappear from the atmosphere through oxidation without life resupplying it. I don't think we have any built or planned telescopes that can detect oxygen 3000 light years away though. This article[1] discusses detecting oxygen in the atmosphere of exoplanets 5 pc away, about 16 light years, using the James Web space telescope that is yet to be launched. [1]: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41550-019-0977-7 https://www.nature.com/articles/s41550-019-0977-7

Xelbair 6y ago

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Absorption_spectroscopy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Absorption_spectroscopy We can detect water, and oxygen in the atmosphere using this method. Plus we can estimate it's temperature based on it's orbit and star's energy. If it is in the habitable zone we can only suspect that it potentially can support life, but we cannot detect if life exists there. Well, even if we could do that we would get data from N years from the past, depending on the distance.

JoeAltmaier 6y ago

Perhaps, if gasses produced by life could be detected? But we've detected life in volcanic vents, in arctic ice, in the upper atmosphere, in pretty much every niche on our own planet. Apparently life is pretty adaptable. So we have some clues already.

ajuc 6y ago
Detecting (or not-detecting) life on a planet similar to Earth would be groundbreaking. Currently we know of only 1 instance where life arose, and only 1 planet where it's reasonable to expect it to arise. If we detect life on Mars or Europa it would likely be related to our own, so that's not an independent data point. But if we detect that there's definitely life on a planet 3000 light years away, or if we exclude that possibility - that's a massive change in our model of universe, understanding of Fermi paradox and our origins.
- JoeAltmaier 6y ago
  Still, life on Earth are of a baffling variety. It seems it rose up in every environment possible for stable carbon. Yes, I'd like to learn of life elsewhere. But life here is amazing too.