Researchers and scientists believe weather or seasonal changes in an exoplanet’s atmosphere could give hints to alien life.
Are we alone? Does alien life exist in some other galaxy? Scientists believe that we can confirm the presence of extraterrestrial life by monitoring the seasonal changes on the exoplanet. Experts believe that weather is a key ingredient of life just like water and its presence can make an exoplanet habitable.
The only asset that makes life favorable on the planet Earth is its atmosphere. The atmosphere of the planet includes seasonal changes, which supports different forms of life to thrive on the Earth. Any other planet having this can undoubtedly shelter life forms just like the Earth.
There are hundreds to thousands of planets outside our Solar System that exhibit the same property of orbiting stars just like the Earth. Any existence of extraterrestrial life on these planets can be traced by analyzing the atmosphere of the planets and studying the seasonal changes associated with those planets.
A report received from a new research said that it is not very much likely for humans to visit the exoplanets anytime in the near future and hence searching the existence of life in those planets must be done by analyzing the atmosphere condition there. The study can be done by measuring any fingerprints which the biological creatures visiting the planets are likely to leave behind them in the atmosphere of the planet. As per the experts, this can be done with the help of the advanced next-generation telescopes, which would allow the researchers, analyze the far off planets’ “composition of gases.”
According to the report’s further statements, a single analysis of the biosignatures could tend to be incorrect or perhaps not precise. As per the notes, the scientists have arrived at a solution reasoning out this problem. The researchers are designing a quantitative framework that can identify dynamic biosignatures on the basis of the atmospheric conditions and seasonal changes of the Earth. The method can then work effectively for seeking alien life. The research was formulated by the researchers of the University of California, Riverside’s Alternative Earths Astrobiology Center and was funded by the NASA Astrobiology Institute.
Stephanie Olson, the lead author of the study said that the most powerful way of accessing the exoplanets is observing the atmosphere of those planets to analyze if any transformations can be identified in the biosignature gases. The researcher further said that in some of the scenarios such transformations may prove to be tough to demonstrate with no life and also could let the scientists characterize instead of just identifying the presence of life on the exoplanets.
Olson explained that understanding the “atmospheric seasonality” is crucial as it is modulated biologically on the Earth and occurs as well in the other planets that have not yet been habited. Olson added that identifying life on the basis of seasonality would not need an in-depth knowledge of the alien biochemistry.
