A new study suggests a biosignature that the James Webb Space Telescope could search for:
The new study looks at the history of life on Earth, the one inhabited planet we know, to find times where the planet's atmosphere contained a mixture of gases that are out of equilibrium and could exist only in the presence of living organisms — anything from pond scum to giant redwoods. In fact, life's ability to make large amounts of oxygen has only occurred in the past one-eighth of Earth's history.
By taking a longer view, the researchers identified a new combination of gases that would provide evidence of life: methane plus carbon dioxide, minus carbon monoxide.
"We need to look for fairly abundant methane and carbon dioxide on a world that has liquid water at its surface, and find an absence of carbon monoxide," said co-author David Catling, a UW professor of Earth and space sciences. "Our study shows that this combination would be a compelling sign of life. What's exciting is that our suggestion is doable, and may lead to the historic discovery of an extraterrestrial biosphere in the not-too-distant future."
Also at Popular Mechanics.
Disequilibrium biosignatures over Earth history and implications for detecting exoplanet life (open, DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.aao5747) (DX)
(Score: 2) by takyon on Friday January 26 2018, @09:28AM
Let's look for what will be the easiest to recognize. If unusual forms of life are common within the nearest thousand light years, it can wait another ten years for the data to be analyzed.
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