Public Release:  Search for extraterrestrial life more difficult than thought

University of Toronto


IMAGE: Search for life on exoplanets more difficult than thought according to new research from the University of Toronto Scarborough. view more

Credit: University of Toronto Scarborough



The presence of multiple chemicals such as methane and oxygen in an exoplanet's atmosphere is considered an example of a biosignature, or evidence of past or present life. Rein's team discovered that a lifeless planet with a lifeless moon can mimic the same results as a planet with a biosignature.

"You wouldn't be able to distinguish between them because they are so far away that you would see both in one spectrum," says Rein.


"A telescope would need to be unrealistically large, something one hundred metres in size and it would have to be built in space," he says. "This telescope does not exist, and there are no plans to build one any time soon."

Current methods can estimate the size and temperature of an exoplanet planet in order to determine whether liquid water could exist on the planet's surface, believed to be one of the criteria for a planet hosting the right conditions for life.

While many researchers use modeling to imagine the atmosphere of these planets, they still aren't able to make conclusive observations, says Rein. "We can't get an idea of what the atmosphere is actually like, not with the methods we have at our disposal."


"We should make sure we are looking at the right objects," he says, adding that the search for life within our solar system should remain a priority. He points to the recent discovery of a liquid ocean on Enceladus, one of Saturn's larger moons, as a prime example.


Rein says locating a planet in a habitable zone while being able to obtain a good resolution to model the atmosphere will help determine what's on the planet.


