NASA says it is ‘beginning to zero in’ on alien life as it reveals how next-generation telescopes could find a world ‘bearing recognizable signs of life’
- NASA’s space telescopes have already found a huge range of planets
- Space agency says future telescopes will be able to search for water or gases that resemble our atmosphere
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NASA has revealed the latest progress in the hunt for alien life – and says its is closing in on planets capable of sustaining life.
‘As we continue checking off items on the habitability list, we’ll draw closer and closer to finding a world bearing recognizable signs of life,’ the space agency said.
It has already discovered a huge range of planets across the Milky Way, which it described as a ‘motley, teeming multitude: hot Jupiters, gas giants, small, rocky worlds and mysterious planets larger than Earth and smaller than Neptune.
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NASA has already discovered a huge range of planets across the Milky Way, which it described as a ‘a motley, teeming multitude’. Pictured, a new artist’s concept of how rocky, potentially habitable worlds elsewhere in our galaxy might appear.
‘As we prepare to add many thousands more to the thousands found already, the search goes on for evidence of life – and for a world something like our own.’
‘As our space telescopes and other instruments grow ever more sensitive, we’re beginning to zero in.’
The claims come as NASA plans its next generation telescopes that could hunt for more signs of habitability.
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It said discoveries so far ‘inspire excitement and curiosity among scientists and the public.’
The space agency has found rocky planets in Earth’s size range, at the right distance from their parent stars to harbor liquid water – but has so far been unable to tell if they possess atmospheres or oceans.
Antennas of CSIRO’s Australian SKA Pathfinder with the Milky Way overhead, which are taking part in the hunt from Earth
‘Future space telescopes will be able to analyze the light from some of these planets, searching for water or a mixture of gases that resembles our own atmosphere.’
Among the most critical factors in the shaping and development of a habitable planet is the nature of its parent star.
The star’s mass, size and age determine the distance and extent of its ‘habitable zone’ – the region around a star where the temperature potentially allows for liquid water to pool on a planet’s surface.
NASA also paid tribute to the European Space Agency’s Gaia satellite, launched in 2013, describing it as ‘one of history’s greatest star mappers’.
It relies on a suite of high-precision instruments to measure star brightness, distance, and composition, and is being used to create a three-dimensional map of our Milky Way galaxy.
WHAT IS THE EUROPEAN SPACE AGENCY’S GAIA PROBE AND WHAT IS DESIGNED TO DO?
Gaia is an ambitious mission to chart a three-dimensional map of our galaxy, the Milky Way, and in the process reveal its composition, formation and evolution.
Gaia has been circling the sun nearly a million miles beyond Earth’s orbit since its launch by the European Space Agency (ESA) in December 2013.
On its journey, the probe has been discreetly snapping pictures of the Milky Way, identifying stars from smaller galaxies long ago swallowed up by our own.
Tens of thousands of previously undetected objects are expected to be discovered by Gaia, including asteroids that may one day threaten Earth, planets circling nearby stars, and exploding supernovas.
Artist’s impression of Gaia mapping the stars of the Milky Way. Gaia maps the position of the Milky Way’s stars in a couple of ways. It pinpoints the location of the stars but the probe can also plot their movement, by scanning each star about 70 times
Astrophysicists also hope to learn more about the distribution of dark matter, the invisible substance thought to hold the observable universe together.
They also plan to test Albert Einstein’s general theory of relativity by watching how light is deflected by the sun and its planets.
The satellite’s billion-pixel camera, the largest ever in space, is so powerful it would be able to gauge the diameter of a human hair at a distance of 621 miles (1,000 km).
This means nearby stars have been located with unprecedented accuracy.
Gaia maps the position of the Milky Way’s stars in a couple of ways.
Gaia’s all-sky view of our Milky Way Galaxy and neighbouring galaxies, based on measurements of nearly 1.7 billion stars. The map shows the total brightness and colour of stars observed by the ESA satellite in each portion of the sky between July 2014 and May 2016. Brighter regions indicate denser concentrations of especially bright stars, while darker regions correspond to patches of the sky where fewer bright stars are observed. The colour representation is obtained by combining the total amount of light with the amount of blue and red light recorded by Gaia in each patch of the sky.
It pinpoints the location of the stars but the probe can also plot their movement, by scanning each star about 70 times.
This is what allows scientists to calculate the distance between Earth and each star, which is a crucial measure.
In September 2016, ESA released the first batch of data collected by Gaia, which included information on the brightness and position of over a billion stars.
In April 2018, this was expanded to high-precision measurements of almost 1.7 billion stars.
The chart so far includes the positions of about 1.7 billion stars, with distances for about 1.3 billion.
That has prompted a reassessment of star sizes to learn whether some might be larger, smaller, dimmer or brighter than scientists had thought, NASA said.
‘Gaia has improved distances and has improved assessments of how bright a star is, and how big a planet is,’ said Eric Mamajek, the deputy program chief scientist for NASA’s Exoplanet Exploration Program.
‘The whole issue has always been, how well do we understand the star? This is just another chapter of that ongoing story.’
The latest scientific data from the Gaia space probe also is prompting a reassessment of the most promising ‘habitable zone’ planets found by observatories around the world, as well as space-based instruments like NASA’s Kepler.
NASA’S KEPLER CRISIS
Kepler has become the third NASA space telescope in as many weeks to hit major problems.
Chandra and Hubble both malfunctioned earlier this month, putting themselves in ‘sleep mode’.
Now, NASA has revealed Kepler has done the same.
Kepler has become the third NASA space telescope in as many weeks to hit major problems
Following a successful return of data from the last observation campaign, the Kepler team commanded the spacecraft into position to begin collecting data for its next campaign.
However, on Friday, ‘during a regularly scheduled spacecraft contact using NASA’s Deep Space Network, the team learned that the spacecraft had transitioned to its no-fuel-use sleep mode.’
The Kepler team is currently assessing the cause and ‘evaluating possible next steps.’
Of the 3,700 exoplanets – planets around other stars – confirmed by scientists so far, about 2,600 were found by the Kepler space telescope.
Kepler hunts for the tiny eclipse, or dip in starlight, as a planet crosses the face of its star.
The most recent analysis of Kepler’s discoveries shows that 20 to 50 percent of the stars in the sky are likely to have small, potentially rocky planets in their habitable zones.
Our initial estimate of near Earth-sized, habitable-zone planets from the Kepler spacecraft as of June 19, 2017, was 30.
Preliminary analysis of newer data, on both those exoplanets and their host stars, shows that the number is likely smaller – possibly between 2 and 12.
Much more data are needed, including a better understanding of how a planet’s size relates to its composition.
‘We’re still trying to figure out how big a planet can be and still be rocky,’ said Jessie Dotson, an astrophysicist at NASA’s Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley.
She is also the project scientist for Kepler’s current, extended mission, known as K2.
That should put us on more solid ground for the coming torrent of exoplanet discoveries from TESS (the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite), and future telescopes as well. It brings us one step closer in our search for a promising planet among a galaxy of stars.
‘This is the exciting part of science,’ Dotson said.
‘So often, we’re really portrayed as, ‘Now we know this story.’
But I have a theory: Scientists love it when we don’t know something. It’s the hunt that’s so exciting.’
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