Scientists to spot alien oceans with next generation of telescopes
September 10th, 2010 - 4:43 pm ICT by ANIWashington, Sept 10 (ANI): A U.S. space telescope set for launch in 2014 could reveal the presence of oceans on planets outside the Solar System, say scientists.
Detecting water on Earth-like planets would offer the tantalizing prospect they could sustain life, and scientists hope the reflection of light, or “glint”, from mirror-like ocean surfaces could be picked up by the upcoming generation of space telescopes.
Tyler Robinson at the University of Washington in Seattle said he thinks the new technique could be used in the search for the “holy grail” for exoplanet astronomy, a possible sister planet to Earth.
“We’re focussing on a class of extra-solar planets yet to be detected, so things comparable in size and composition to the Earth and similar distances from their central star as the Earth is from the Sun,” the BBC quoted him as saying.
“The goal is to find something Earth-like in almost every sense of the world so we can even prove it has liquid oceans on its surface,” he added.
This kind of ocean could be the signature of a planet where life had developed in the same way as it did on our own planet.
Tyler Robinson hopes “glint” - the effect seen when light is reflected from an ocean’s surface - may reveal the presence of Earth-like planets beyond our cosmic neighbourhood.
The research has been published in Astrophysical Journal Letters. (ANI)
- Exoplanet neighbour smaller than Earth discovered - Jul 19, 2012
- Sun glints can help detect oceans and lakes on habitable exoplanets - Jan 06, 2010
- We can detect volcanoes on alien worlds, say scientists - Sep 08, 2010
- Web users locate two new potential planets - Sep 22, 2011
- Astronomers discover new planet in Milky Way - Mar 19, 2010
- Red, green and blue colours are best to find Earth-like planets - Feb 24, 2011
- Earth-sized planets found beyond solar system - Dec 21, 2011
- Space telescopes may soon start detecting air-breathing aliens in exoplanets - May 18, 2009
- Astronomers unveil 'super-exotic' exoplanet - Apr 29, 2011
- Billions of life bearing planets float in the milky way - May 14, 2012
- NASA's Spitzer detects light of alien 'Super-Earth' - May 09, 2012
- Could city lights help locate alien civilisations? - Nov 04, 2011
- NASA's Kepler space telescope discovers 5 earth-like exoplanets - Jan 05, 2010
- NASA's super-Earth characterization could help find life on other planets - Dec 02, 2010
- NASA finds 1,235 planets that could have extra-terrestrial lifeforms - Mar 30, 2011
Tags: astrophysical journal, astrophysical journal letters, bbc, central star, distances, glint, launch, liquid oceans, neighbourhood, next generation, ocean surfaces, reflection of light, search for the holy grail, sense of the world, sister planet, solar planets, solar system, space telescope, space telescopes, university of washington