Scientist eyes new techniques in search for extraterrestrial life
Swiss scientist Michel Mayor, who heads the European team that recently announced the discovery of apotentially habitable planet, has his sights set on an even bigger target: detecting signs of extraterrestrial life.
Mayor predicts that top researchers are less than two decades away from being able to detect real signs of such life— if it exists.
"We have the methodology, the ability to do this simply on science, so let's do it," the University of Geneva scientist said Wednesday.
Mayor, who was credited in 1995 with co-finding the first planets outside our solar system, said the scientist in him is unsure of the presence of other life forms in our universe.
"But, personally, I feel comfortable with the idea of life existing elsewhere," the 65-year-old said in a telephone interview.
New planet holds promise as 'nearby' source of life
Leading astronomers are describing the discovery of the planet as a big step in the search for life in the universe because it is just the right size, might have water in liquid form, and in galactic terms is relatively nearby at 193 trillion kilometres away.
But there is still a lot that is unknown about the new planet, named 581 c, which was discovered by the European Southern Observatory's telescope in La Silla, Chile. The telescope, which Mayor helped design, has a special instrument that splits light to find wobbles in different wavelengths, revealing the possible existence of other worlds.
"It is an absolutely fantastic instrument with great precision," Mayor said, but added that the planet's diameter, atmospheric makeup and contents have yet to be confirmed.
Stephane Udry, the discovery team's lead author, also based in Geneva, speculated that the planet is probably full of liquid water, but conceded that he bases the conjecture on how planets form, not on any hard evidence.
Mayor said many more planets meeting scientists' requirements for habitability would be found, but that the most significant short-term discovery would be that of a low-mass planet even more similar to Earth. 581 c is about five times heavier than our planet, but is still the smallest exoplanet yet discovered (an exoplanetis one located outside our solar system).
Mayor predicted that NASA's Terrestrial Planet Finder and the European Space Agency's Darwin satellite would make increasingly significant contributions in the search for extraterrestrial intelligence. He said these institutions will be able to directly look for "signatures of life" on other planets, similar to the high presence of oxygen in our atmosphere, within 15 to 20 years.