A team of researchers from ETH Zurich and the University of Zurich has published a study that could significantly improve our ability to detect extraterrestrial life on exoplanets. The research was published in The Astrophysical Journal.
The researchers focused on the Large Interferometer For Exoplanets (LIFE) space mission and its potential to assess the habitability of exoplanets by observing Earth as a test object.
Using Earth as a study object, scientists simulated how life would be observed on an exoplanet. The research successfully characterized Earth as if it were an exoplanet, using simulated observations of the mid-infrared thermal emission spectrum.
The researchers concluded that Earth would be identified as a temperate planet suitable for life, with the presence of important atmospheric gases such as carbon dioxide (CO2), water vapor (H2O), ozone (O3) and methane (CH4), which are important for the existence of life and conditions suitable for life.
The study also found that viewing angle and time of year did not significantly affect the detectability of these molecules or their relative abundance in Earth’s atmosphere. This is important because something as simple as cloud cover can ruin atmospheric data.
Determining surface pressure has been much more difficult, so future work should focus on developing better methods to obtain these figures correctly.
The study found that neglecting clouds and assuming a constant vertical gas content distorts search results. When interpreting the exoplanet’s atmospheric data, including all the data collected so far by other studies and astronomers, you may need to take a second look.
Using Earth as a test object proves that the mission’s measurement procedures are feasible and effective. Moreover, it also opens up new possibilities for exploring habitable worlds.
