Scientists are preparing for our best shot yet to find alien life on exoplanets, which are worlds that orbit other stars. As the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), a space observatory with unparalleled sensitivity, gears up to take its first observations, researchers are gaming out the potential identification of biosignatures, which are signs of life, on the exoplanets in JWST’s sights.
Now, a team led by Maggie Thompson, a graduate student in astronomy and astrophysics at UC Santa Cruz, has presented an updated guide to interpreting detections of methane gas on exoplanets, which can be produced by living and abiotic processes.
“This is a super exciting time!” said Thomspon in an email. “JWST is going to revolutionize our understanding of exoplanets and will allow us to begin characterizing the atmospheres of rocky, potentially habitable worlds. I'm very excited to see what JWST discovers and what sorts of interesting targets it identifies that we will want to continue observing with future telescopes.”
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