Astrobiologists like Dr. Giada Arney from the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center are delighted about this capability since it permits researchers to continue gathering proof for possible biosignatures, or from another location observable signs of life. Some essential biosignatures on Earth include oxygen and methane, which are direct outcomes of biological processes of plants and animals. Another important biosignature of Earth is methane. That is, does it make sense for life to produce that given biosignature in that offered environment.
See Part 1 and Part 2 in this video series.
Video Transcript:
Were really thrilled to utilize the James Webb Space Telescope to look for signs of life in the atmospheres of possibly habitable worlds. And, in specific, were browsing for signatures called biosignatures, which are remotely observable indications of life.
Now on Earth, a few of the essential biosignatures of our own world are oxygen, which is produced by oxygenic photosynthesis, that obviously, all of us understand plants do that. Theres all sorts of microorganisms that likewise do oxygenic photosynthesis, and a lot of people consider it to be the dominant metabolism of our planet.
Another crucial biosignature of Earth is methane. Methane on our planet is produced by microorganisms that reside in a range of places, varying from hydrothermal vents at the bottom of the ocean to the guts of cows. And they produce the majority of the methane thats in our planets atmosphere.
So, these are crucial gases that we wish to try to find in the environments of exoplanets with the James Webb Space Telescope. You also have to actually carefully interpret that gas. That is, does it make good sense for life to produce that given biosignature because offered environment.
And then, truly notably, you likewise desire to dismiss what are called biosignature incorrect positives.
Biosignature false positives are non-life manner ins which a planet can trick you by producing something that looks like a biosignature, however its not actually a biosignature due to the fact that its not produced by life; its produced by some other process like volcanism or atmospheric chemistry or any other procedure that does not include life.
So, all of this together implies this is a really amazing search, but its going to be made complex.
And, if we spot something that we think is a biosignature when we take a look at an exoplanet, it might not right away be conclusive. It might be unclear up until we gather more data to much better understand it in the context of its environment.
Artist conception of the James Webb Space Telescope. Credit: NASA GSFC/CIL/Adriana Manrique Gutierrez
Among the numerous goals of the James Webb Space Telescope is to assist characterize the environments of exoplanets utilizing a strategy called spectroscopy, which splits light into various wavelengths permitting researchers to determine the elemental makeup of a distant object.
Astrobiologists like Dr. Giada Arney from the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center are excited about this capability due to the fact that it allows researchers to continue gathering proof for possible biosignatures, or remotely observable indications of life. Some crucial biosignatures on Earth include oxygen and methane, which are direct results of biological processes of animals and plants. Nevertheless, when looking at exoplanets, researchers need to eliminate other non-life methods of creating those signatures, like volcanism and atmospheric procedures.
Remarkable claims, such as finding life on another planet, need to have amazing proof, and while Webb will assist add to that effort, it alone will not be adequate to really spot life on an exoplanet.