James Webb to ease hunt for extraterrestrial life, help spot alien activity

The hunt for extraterrestrial life is likely to turn into a cakewalk for scientists as a new study has explained how alien activities can be easily detected using the James Webb Telescope.

According to the study, if a planet is modified by the aliens in their solar system to make it warmer, scientists will now be able to detect it.

A new study, conducted by The University of California, Riverside, has identified the artificial greenhouse gases which will help find a terraformed planet (a kind of planet which has been artificially modified to be hospitable for life).

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In the study, the gases described are fluorinated versions of methane, ethane, and propane, along with gases which have a mixture of nitrogen and fluorine or sulfur and fluorine. These gases can be detected with the use of existing technology in the atmospheres of planets which are outside our solar system.

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The finding of gases which hint at extraterrestrial existence has also increased the possibility of theJames Webb Space Telescope spotting an alien civilisation one day.

How fluorinated gases will make alien detection easy on James Webb telescope?

The gases, in large volumes, will act as pollutants if present on Earth. The warming power in Sulfur hexafluoride is 23,500 times in comparison to carbon dioxide. A freezing planet can be heated by the presence of a small amount of this gas to the point of creating liquid water persistently.

Scientists have also found potential reasons for these gases getting used by the extraterrestrials on an exoplanet.

Lead author of the study and astrobiologist Edward Schwieterman said, “[They’d] be good for a civilization that perhaps wanted to forestall an impending ice age or terraform an otherwise uninhabitable planet in their system, as humans have proposed forMars."

Since these gases do not occur in large quantities naturally, they need to be manufactured. If the gases are found, they will hint at the existence of intelligent, technology-using life forms.

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The gases are able to exist for longer duration and are capable of existing for up to 50,000 years on Earth-like atmospheres.

The gases can be very useful to the James Webb telescope as an infrared signature will be produced from the fluorinated gases on terraformed planets.

Scientists have not been able to quantify the likelihood of finding these gases in future, however, there is a possibility of detecting them during currently planned missions.

“You wouldn’t need extra effort to look for these signs, if your telescope is already characterising the planet for other reasons. And it would be jaw-droppingly amazing to find them," said Schwieterman.

(With inputs from agencies)