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This is incredible. If astronomers analyse the spectra of the planets they can now image and find oxygen, methane and CO2 in certain proportions, the only concl
by mellow 18y ago
This is incredible. If astronomers analyse the spectra of the planets they can now image and find oxygen, methane and CO2 in certain proportions, the only conclusion will be life. Imagine if they find the spectral lines from chemicals produced by an industrial, polluting society!
- albertcardona 18y agoIf current technology had enough resolution, scientists would have scanned the planets already for oxygen, methane and water (which mixed together don't quite exist unless there's a continuous force, like life, unbalancing the physical reaction).
- mellow 18y agoI realise they would have done this already if they could. I was thinking more in the medium term - the next 3-5 years?
- lutorm 18y agoActually, they have. There are observations with the Spitzer space telescope infrared spectrograph of planets occulting their star, where if I'm not mistaken one could see something like methane absorption signatures of the atmosphere of the planets. That's not very surprising, since these are Jupiter-like planets and they have methane clouds in their atmosphere.