Scientists want a new task to hunt life beyond the Earth and the Solar System.
The international major interferometer for Exoplanets Mission of Eth Zurich at the University of Switzerland will send telescopes to investigate the diversity of other worlds.
The so -called life mission would examine dozens of outer planetary atmospheres with a similar temperature, radius and mass for water and oxygen symptoms.
Physicist Dr. Daniel Angerhausen said, “One positive detection would change everything.” expression“But even if we can’t find life, we will be able to measure how rare or widespread planets can really be with detected biosignatures.”
The mission concept is detailed in a new study. Journal of Astronomy.
The study reviews whether astronomers in future external planetary polls, and what they can learn on the basis of a “Bayesian” statistical analysis of a minimum number of outer planets that need to be observed to get meaningful answers about the frequency of settled worlds. Bayes statistics are about determining the possibility of a result based on other known possibilities, Space.com.
There are currently more than 5,800 approved outer planets beyond our solar system. Many of them are in the orbit of other stars and the majority of the discovered in our Milky Way galaxy. However, NASA believes that it exists billions.
The research found that if scientists cannot find life for 40 to 80 outer planets, less than 10 to 20 percent of similar planets could conclude that they host life. These results said that researchers would enable the upper limit placement of an estimated life prevalence in the universe.
“Such a result would be a turning point” in question Angerhausen, chief author of the study. “Even if we cannot find life, we will be able to measure how much rare or widespread planets with biosignatures can be finally detected.”
Nevertheless, they accept that each observation comes with a certain level of uncertainty. For example, the task can cause incorrect negatives thanks to the signs of missed life.
Writers say that certain and measurable questions are necessary to address uncertainty, such as “which fraction of rocky planets in a solar system shows the symptoms of net water vapor, oxygen and methane”.
“It’s not just about how many planets we’ve observed – asking the right questions and asking how safe we can be when we don’t see what we’re looking for.” He said. “If we are not careful and rely on our ability to define life, even a major questionnaire can lead to misleading consequences.”
