14 DAY TRIAL // Astronomers have now set their eyes on developing methods of identifying signs of multicellular life on the extrasolar planets they are seeing. To that end, a group of experts recently developed a new mathematical technique, that could allow for scientists to identify such objects.
In the early days of exoplanetary research, experts were primarily dedicated to finding ways of detecting single-celled organisms on potentially habitable alien worlds. However, this objective appears to be too narrow for the scientific community today.
In a research paper published in the latest issue of the esteemed scientific journal Astrobiology, researchers from the University of Oxford, in England, detail the new mathematical method.
Thus far, there are more than 550 known exoplanets, with more than 1,200 candidates proposed by the latest investigations carried out using the NASA Kepler Telescope. The instrument is designed specifically to search for alien worlds around distant stars.
According to the team that developed the new research method, exoplanets harboring forests or similar, large-scale organisms, would reveal this by the way in which they reflect light.
“This technique allows us to identify planets that potentially have complex life and distinguish them from planets with simple life,” explains Oxford Environmental Change Institute junior research fellow in tropical forest science Christopher Doughty. He was also the lead author of the new paper.
“Imagine going outside on a sunny day. When the Sun is directly overhead, you will not see your shadow. If someone took a picture of you from above, there would be no shadows present, and the picture would be bright,” the expert adds, quoted by Space.
“Now go outside a few hours later. Your shadow will be present. A picture taken from above will now be darker because the shadow is included,” he reveals. The brightness of a planet's surface therefore becomes a factor indicating what lies underneath the clouds.
According to Doughty, the new mathematical model, which is based on the bidirectional reflectance distribution function (BRDF), works even if the images telescopes observe are very, very small.
“Even if the entire planet were reduced to a single pixel, under certain situations, there would be a difference in the brightness of the planet as it rotates around its star that would not be there if there were no trees,” he concludes.