Exoplanet photobombers may interfere with NASA and other space organizations, particularly when analyzing data, according to experts.
When NASA scientists and other space specialists look for exoplanets that might harbor life, space debris and other things could unexpectedly obstruct their eyesight.
The problem is that exoplanets could unintentionally spoil a shot even when they aren't doing it on purpose.
Exoplanet Photobombers Could Cause Data Analysis Errors
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center scientist Prabal Saxena explained how planetary photobombers might interfere with crucial exoplanet research.
His latest planetary photobomb research was published in the Astrophysical Journal Letters. According to study results, exoplanets captured in other planetary images may cause inaccuracies in data analysis.
This is due to the potential for space photobombers' light to unintentionally merge with the exoplanet's own light emission.
"If you looked at Earth sitting next to Mars or Venus from a distant vantage point, then depending on when you observed them, you might think they're both the same object," explains Saxena per NASA.
In addition, light diffraction may lead two exoplanets to merge because space telescopes must "see" across enormous distances.
This presents issues when researchers examine the exoplanet's spectrum in search of biosignatures, or indications of life. Another object's cross-contamination might dramatically skew the results.
This is a cartoon illustrating the planetary photobombing concept. Photobombers like Mars and the Moon could sneak into a picture of Earth, if you tried to observe it in a way similar to how scientists will try to find and understand potentially habitable worlds outside our solar system.
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How NASA, Other Space Agencies Look For Life in Outer Space
Astronomers use telescopes to examine the light coming from far-off planets to learn whether or not they may be home to life, Phys.org explained.
A light-year, or the distance light travels in a year, is approximately six trillion miles (almost nine trillion kilometers). Our solar system is around 30 light-years from about 30 stars identical to our Sun.
The "point-spread function" (PSF) of the target planet is what causes the photobombing phenomena, in which observations of one planet are tainted by light from other planets in a system.
The PSF is a picture made when light from a source bends or spreads around an opening, creating an image bigger than the source for anything that is extremely far away (such as an exoplanet). The size of a telescope's aperture, or the region that collects light, and the wavelength at which an observation is made determine how large a PSF an object has.
A PSF may resolve for planets orbiting far-off stars so that two neighboring planets or a planet and a moon may appear to merge into one another.
How to Solve Planetary Photobombing Issues
Planetary photobombers significantly impact NASA's efforts to identify additional exoplanets that may harbor life, Space.com pointed out. Thus, the international space agency has developed several solutions to address this issue.
The aerospace union said that developing new data processing techniques to eliminate the light radiated by other exoplanets is one of their options.
Studying the topic of exoplanets' space systems before taking photos is another mitigating strategy. NASA can confirm that the space object is not close to any other outer planets thanks to this.
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