atmospheric disequilibrium tagged posts

A New ‘Atmospheric Disequilibrium’ could help Detect Life on other Planets

Future telescopes like the James Webb Space Telescope (right) will observe the atmospheres of distant planets to seek evidence of life. Earth (top left) has several gases in its atmosphere that reveal the presence of life, primarily oxygen and ozone. The new study finds that for the early Earth (bottom left), the combination of abundant methane and carbon dioxide would provide an alternative sign of life. Credit: NASA/Wikimedia Commons/Joshua Krissansen-Totton

Future telescopes like the James Webb Space Telescope (right) will observe the atmospheres of distant planets to seek evidence of life. Earth (top left) has several gases in its atmosphere that reveal the presence of life, primarily oxygen and ozone. The new study finds that for the early Earth (bottom left), the combination of abundant methane and carbon dioxide would provide an alternative sign of life. Credit: NASA/Wikimedia Commons/Joshua Krissansen-Totton

A new study has found a simple approach to look for life that might be more promising than just looking for oxygen. As NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope and other new giant telescopes come online they will need novel strategies to look for evidence of life on other planets...

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