Astronomers say there's a chance that NASA's powerful James Webb Space Telescope will discover alien life or perhaps traces of sophisticated extraterrestrial civilization on planets outside the Solar System if they exist, as the optical instrument begins unveiling the mysteries of the cosmos.
The capacity of the JWST to identify habitability indicators and atmospheric and surface indications of life on other planets, according to astronomers from NASA and Pennsylvania State University in the United States, may help uncover alien life on exoplanets.
Researchers detailed their study, "Detectability of Chlorofluorocarbons in the Atmospheres of Habitable M-Dwarf Planets," in Earth and Planetary Astrophysics.
KOUROU, FRENCH GUIANA - DECEMBER 25: Launch teams monitor the countdown to the launch of Arianespace's Ariane 5 rocket carrying NASAs James Webb Space Telescope on December 25, 2021, in the Jupiter Center at the Guiana Space Center in Kourou, French Guiana. The James Webb Space Telescope (sometimes called JWST or Webb) is a large infrared telescope with a 21.3 foot (6.5 meters) primary mirror. The observatory will study every phase of cosmic history within our solar system to the most distant observable galaxies in the early universe.
NASA's James Webb Space Telescope May Find Life on Exoplanets Based on the Air Pollution
The Blue Marble Space Institute of Science in Seattle conducted the research, which looked at the idea of utilizing JWST to hunt for industrial pollution in exoplanet atmospheres.
It proposes that detecting chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) from other worlds might reveal whether or not they are livable, similar to how CFCs generated industrially as refrigerants and cleaning agents identify humanity here on Earth.
Daily Mail said CFCs, which were previously widely utilized in refrigerators and insulating foams, were the subject of the investigation.
These chemicals are renowned for causing a massive hole in the ozone layer in the 1980s, before an international ban on their usage in 1987 helped lower CFC levels to safer levels.
The researchers defined the molecules as strong greenhouse agents with lengthy atmospheric residence durations implying that they would probably be produced by a civilization capable of fast industrialization.
However, they warn that James Webb Space Telescope's capacity to detect CFCs has limits. For example, if a planet's star is too bright, the radiance will drown out the signal.
M-Class Stars May Not Be Always Hospitable to Life
The Independent, citing the researchers, said the telescope should be hunting for faint, long-lived red dwarfs, known as M-class stars, to have the highest chance of seeing the chemical signature.
TRAPPIST-1, a red dwarf 40 light-years distant from us with numerous Earth-sized planets circling within its habitable zone, was used as an example.
Experts noted that M-class stars may not always be hospitable to life since they may be unstable, emitting massive solar flares while young, but if they calm down as they get older, their Goldilocks zones may become more livable.
Therefore, the researchers said future missions like James Webb Space Telescope might detect the absorption properties of CFC-11 and CFC-12. They added that the new results and technique could contribute to calculating observability criteria for identifying certain technosignatures on other worlds.
With the deployment of JWST, researchers believe humanity is on the verge of discovering passive atmospheric technosignatures similar to its own surrounding the closest stars.
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