Tag: Giada Arney

Atmospheric Pollution Could Signal Advanced Extraterrestrial Civilization

Article by Amit Malewar                                     February 11, 2021                                        (techexplorist.com)

• Astronomers have detected over 4,000 planets orbiting other stars. Some of these exoplanets have conditions suitable for life. Since exoplanets are so distant, scientists cannot look for signs of life or civilization by sending spacecraft to these distant worlds. The presence of a combination of gases like oxygen and methane in a planet’s atmosphere could be a sign of life or ‘biosignature’. Likewise, a sign of technology (ie: pollution) on an exoplanet, called a ‘technosignature’, could be the byproduct of an industrial process.

• A new NASA research study examines nitrogen dioxide (NO2) as a possible technosignature. “On Earth, about 76 percent of NO2 emissions are due to industrial activity,” says Giada Arney, co-author of the paper at NASA Goddard. “Since NO2 is also produced naturally, scientists will have to carefully analyze an exoplanet to see if there is an excess that could be attributed to a technological society.”

• In this study, scientists used computer modeling to predict whether NO2 pollution would produce a detectable signal. Atmospheric NO2 strongly absorbs certain colors (wavelengths) of visible light, which can be seen by observing the light reflected from an exoplanet as it orbits its star. They found that a civilization on an Earth-like planet orbiting a Sun-like star, producing the same amount of NO2 as ours could be detected up to about 30 light-years away using a future large NASA telescope. One light-year is the distance light travels in a year, almost 6 trillion miles. Our galaxy is about 100,000 light-years across.

• The study group also found that cooler and far more common stars than our Sun, such as K and M-type stars, will deliver a stronger, more easily detected NO2 signal. “If we observe NO2 on another planet, we will have to run models to estimate the maximum possible NO2 emissions one could have just from non-industrial sources” to calculate the industrial-sourced NO2, said Arney.

• Jacob Haqq-Misra, a co-author of the paper at the Blue Marble Institute of Science, Seattle, Washington, noted that, “Other studies have examined chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) as possible technosignatures. CFCs were manufactured chemicals used as refrigerants until they were phased out because of their role in ozone depletion. CFCs are also a powerful greenhouse gas that could terraform a planet like Mars by providing additional warming from the atmosphere.” They would be an obvious technosignature since CFCs aren’t produced naturally, as far as we know. It is likely that NO2 would be more prevalent, by comparison, as a general byproduct of any combustion process.”

• This work was funded by NASA Goddard’s Sellers Exoplanet Environments Collaboration and the NASA Exobiology program. supported by NASA’s Planetary Science Division’s Research Program. This work was performed as part of NASA’s Virtual Planetary Laboratory through the NASA Astrobiology Institute and by the NASA Astrobiology Program as part of the Nexus for Exoplanet System Science (NExSS) research coordination network.

[Editor’s Note]    This article proves that NASA is just as complicit as the more obvious deep state organizations, such as SETI, in spending a ton of money and publicity to “search” for extraterrestrial life when it is right under (above) our noses. They trot out highly credentialed establishment scientists to spout a bunch of technical jargon about how they are looking for this ‘techosignature’ or that ‘biosignature’ looking for evidence of a habitable or technologically advanced civilization. Think of all of the time and effort – and deception – that our society will save and redirect once we have full disclosure of the long-standing presence of advanced extraterrestrial beings that have been interacting with our secret space programs for many decades. We already have the answers to all of the questions that deep state scientists continue to dwell on, solely for the theatrics of making average people think that smart people are doing everything they can to detect life beyond this Earth, thereby promoting the outrageous lie that humanity here on Earth is the only intelligent life that we have found in the universe.

 

      Jacob Haqq-Misra

Nitrogen dioxide is part of a group of gaseous air pollutants produced due to road traffic and other fossil fuel combustion processes. In

                        Giada Arney

the lower atmosphere (about 10 to 15 kilometers or around 6.2 to 9.3 miles), NO2 from human activities dominate compared to non-human sources. Therefore, observing NO2 on a habitable planet could potentially indicate the presence of industrialized civilization.

Until now, astronomers have detected over 4,000 planets orbiting other stars. Some of these planets are habitable; some have conditions suitable for life. Since exoplanets are so distant, scientists cannot look for signs of life or civilization by sending spacecraft to these distant worlds.

The presence of a combination of gases like oxygen and methane in the atmosphere could be a sign of life or biosignature. Likewise, a sign of technology on an exoplanet, called a techno signature, could be what’s considered pollution here on Earth — the presence of a gas that’s released as a byproduct of an overall industrial process, such as NO2.

A new NASA research suggests that we might detect advanced extraterrestrial civilization using its atmospheric pollution. This study is the first time NO2 has been examined as a possible technosignature.

Jacob Haqq-Misra, a co-author of the paper at the Blue Marble Institute of Science, Seattle, Washington, said, “Other studies have examined chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) as possible technosignatures, which are industrial products that were widely used as refrigerants until they were phased out because of their role in ozone depletion. CFCs are also a powerful greenhouse gas that could terraform a planet like Mars by providing additional warming from the atmosphere. As far as we know, CFCs are not produced by biology, so they are a more obvious technosignature than NO2. However, CFCs are particular manufactured chemicals that might not be prevalent elsewhere; NO2, by comparison, is a general byproduct of any combustion process.”

In this study, scientists used computer modeling to predict whether NO2 pollution would produce a practical signal to detect with current and planned telescopes.
Atmospheric NO2 strongly absorbs some colors (wavelengths) of visible light, which can be seen by observing the light reflected from an exoplanet as it orbits its star. They found that for an Earth-like planet orbiting a Sun-like star, a civilization producing the same amount of NO2 as ours could be detected up to about 30 light-years away with about 400 hours of observing time using a future large NASA telescope observing at visible wavelengths.

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Scientists Use Moon as Mirror to Detect Extraterrestrial Life

Article by Claire Bugos                             August 10, 2020                            (smithsonianmag.com)

• In January 2019, there was a total lunar eclipse. During a two-day period, light from the Sun passed through the Earth’s atmosphere and hit the Moon, and was reflected back toward the Earth. The Hubble Space Telescope was able to intercept and gather data from this ultraviolet light. Though similar ground-based studies have been done before, this is the first time that scientists have used a space telescope to capture ultraviolet wavelengths. From this data, scientists from NASA and the European Space Agency are able to analyze the Earth’s own atmospheric spectrum. They reported their findings in an article published August 6 in The Astronomical Journal. (see 3-minute NASA video below)

• The main focus was on the Earth’s protective ozone layer. Ozone absorbs ultraviolet radiation. During the eclipse, Hubble detected lower amounts of UV radiation from the light reflected off the Moon than is present from unfiltered sunlight. Therefore, the Earth’s atmosphere absorbed some of it. If they can simulate this with a distant exoplanet, they can determine whether that planet’s atmosphere contains ozone. And along with oxygen, the detection of an ozone layer is considered an indication of possible life on that planet.

• Using this unique method, scientists can simulate observations of exoplanets. When an exoplanet crosses in front of its star, the star light is filtered through the planet’s atmosphere, creating a “halo” effect. Chemicals in the atmosphere filter out certain colors of starlight. Therefore, scientists can determine that planet’s atmospheric composition.

• “But how would we know a habitable or an uninhabited planet if we saw one?” queries Allison Youngblood of the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics, and lead researcher of Hubble’s observations. By developing a model of the Earth’s chemical spectrum, scientists can use this as a template for categorizing the atmospheres of exoplanets in other solar systems.

• The age of the planet is also be taken into account when determining its ability to host life. Earth had low concentrations of oxygen for more than a billion years, while organisms used photosynthesis to build the ozone layer. So it may be challenging to detect ozone in younger planets. Still, ultraviolet may be “the best wavelength to detect photosynthetic life on low-oxygen exoplanets,” says Giada Arney of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center and a co-author of the study.

• The Hubble telescope was launched in 1990, even before astronomers first discovered exoplanets. While its ability to observe extraterrestrial atmospheres is “remarkable,” NASA says future observations of Earth-sized planets will require much larger telescopes and longer observational periods, which the James Webb Space telescope, scheduled to launch in 2021, will provide.

 

In the quest to discover life beyond Earth, scientists are harnessing a very large and proximate tool—the moon.

     Allison Youngblood

During a total lunar eclipse in January 2019, the moon acted like a giant mirror, reflecting sunlight that had passed

                   Hubble Telescope

through our atmosphere back toward Earth, reports Chelsea Gohd for Space.com. The Hubble Space Telescope, which was positioned between the Earth and moon, intercepted the reflected ultraviolet light for scientists to analyze.

Scientists from NASA and the European Space Agency studied the reflected light from a lunar eclipse during a two-day window. They reported their findings in an article published August 6 in The Astronomical Journal.

For the first time, scientists used a space telescope to capture ultraviolet wavelengths. Though similar ground-based studies have been done before, using a space telescope for this observation allows scientists to simulate future observations of exoplanets, Space.com reports.

            Giada Arney

The goal was for the telescope to detect the Earth’s ozone layer. The ozone molecule that makes up the Earth’s protective layer absorbs ultraviolet radiation. During the eclipse, Hubble detected lower amounts of UV radiation from the light reflected off the moon than is present from unfiltered sunlight, meaning the Earth’s atmosphere must have absorbed some of it, according to a NASA press release.

If scientists are able to detect an ozone layer or oxygen on a neighboring exoplanet, there’s a possibility that the planet may harbor life. On Earth, oxygen is often produced by life forms, especially those that photosynthesize. If scientists detect an oxygen-rich atmosphere on an exoplanet, especially if the amount of oxygen varies seasonally, there is a chance that it also hosts life. But scientists would need to further analyze the atmosphere using other tools before determining if it’s life-hosting, Allison Youngblood of the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics, and lead researcher of Hubble’s observations, says in the press release.

3-minute video “Hubble Views Moon to Study Earth” (‘NASA Goddard’ YouTube)

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