Water world, lava hell: Former NASA scientist hints at planets where alien life may exist

Astrophysicist and NASA's former scientist Lisa Kaltenegger surveyed the galaxy for her new book Alien Earths in which she hinted at the possibility of the existence of alien life in a water world dominated by octopus-like creatures, a planet whichhas a dark side where the sun never rises and a lava hell where the planet experiences molten rock rains from the sky.

The astrophysicisthas documented dozens of exoplanets which orbit stars outside our solar system and havebeen classifiedas'Earth-like' or 'potentially habitable'.

Add WION as a Preferred Source

Inanother work of hers, titled The Worlds That Shook Science, Kaltenegge said that astronomy breakthroughs made in the last three decades show that humansare livingin "a completely new golden era of exploration".

Also Read:Alien encounterin backyard of a Las Vegas house not fake, expert examiner says

Since humans will need another 6.9 million years to get to the fastestman-mademachine, Dr Kaltenegge said that the next goal of humanity will be to look out for the creativity required to detectas well ascommunicate with alien lifeforms.

"I hope to convey just how difficult the search for alien life will be," said DrKaltenegger,in her book."We might not even recognise it when it is staring usin the face," she added while speaking to The Daily Mail.

Planet's light holds secrets of alien life?

Scientists have discovered 5,000planets outside of oursolar systemtill now, sincethe first of these'exoplanets',which wasa gas giant named 'Dimidium', was first found in 1992.

"Solving the puzzle of these new worlds requires using a wide range of tools like cultivating colourful biota in our biology lab [...] and reaching back into the long history of Earth's evolution for clues on what to search for," the researcher explained.

Dr Kaltenegger said that for scientists, Earth will become 'our laboratory' wherenew ideas will be testedto understand how life evolves differentlyoutin the galaxy.

Watch:Strongest sign of alien found: The search for life beyond earth

According to the researcher, the hints of the existence of extraterrestrial life on other planets are "written in a planet's light—if you know how to read it."

She explained that when light from distant stars passes across the atmosphere of an exoplanet, then "the chemical makeup of the atmosphere of an alien world is encoded in the light that arrives at my telescope."

(With inputs from agencies)