![]() If the telescope can take a whiff of the newly-discovered planets, it could get us closer to answering our questions about life in the universe. The telescope will check out exoplanets like the TRAPPIST-1 system, a neighborhood of seven rocky globes outside our solar system that scientists think could be habitable. The researchers hope that NASA will take note of their new sniffing strategy as the agency prepares to launch the James Webb telescope next year. He's pretty sure that a recipe of methane, carbon dioxide and surface water would be a compelling signal that there is life nearby. "We need to look for fairly abundant methane and carbon dioxide on a world that has liquid water at its surface, and find an absence of carbon monoxide," study author and astrobiologist David Catling said in a release. After all, other beings or organisms might not even need oxygen. If they exist, they probably aren't just like us. Alien News Desk This weekly, half-hour topical animated programme set in an extraterrestrial newsroom covers breaking news and comments on the universe's most perplexing species-the perplexing Humans of Planet Earth. The scientists say it's not enough to look for oxygen, which would be a tell-tale sign that life existed on another planet. That's helpful because hot gases emit distinct wavelengths of light, so by peering through a telescope, scientists can pinpoint the "smell" of different chemicals in space, and know precisely which elements are present on other worlds. ![]() Some telescopes, including NASA's James Webb Space Telescope (set to launch in 2019), have a capability called "spectroscopy" which measures both radio waves and light. ![]() Account icon An icon in the shape of a person's head and shoulders.
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