Tag: University of Warwick

UK Scientists in Bid to Find Building Blocks of Alien Life on Exoplanets

Article by Sebastian Kettley                                   September 22, 2020                                 (express.co.uk)

• Astronomers at the University of Warwick (Coventry/West Midlands, England) have been searching for a more efficient way to measure water vapor on distant gas giant planets when our best telescopes cannot penetrate through the exoplanet’s cloud covering. According to the science paper offered by the University’s Department of Physics, high-resolution spectroscopy technology could be the ticket. Says lead author of the paper, Dr Siddharth Gandhi, “Ground-based high-resolution spectroscopy as well as the next generation of space telescopes will be able to detect these trace species on cloudy planets, offering exciting potential for biosignatures in the future.”

• The hunt for alien life is extremely limited due to the vast distances between planets and the technology currently at our disposal. Rover on nearby rocky planets like Mars take many months looking for signs of life, with no guarantee that they can even detect such life using the technology that they carry with them. We can see light bouncing off of a far more distant exoplanet’s atmosphere, but too often clouds will prevent a light spectrum from penetrating closer to the surface.

• The Warwick scientists’ paper describes a novel way of examining exoplanet atmospheres for water vapor, ammonia, methane, and other chemicals that could be an indicator of life. High-resolution spectroscopy is a potential way of doing that, even where there is a cloudy atmosphere. “The chemical abundances can tell you quite a lot about how the planet may have formed because it leaves its chemical fingerprint on the molecules in the atmosphere,” says Dr Gandhi. As the light skims the top of the atmosphere, its spectrum is shifted and specific wavelengths of light can then be matched to specific chemicals in the air. “Detecting the molecules at the top of the atmosphere… offers a window into the internal structure as the gases mix with the deeper layers.”

• So far, most observations of exoplanets have been carried out using space telescopes like NASA’s Hubble or Spitzer. “Quite a lot of these cooler planets are far too cloudy to get any meaningful constraints with the current generation of space telescopes,” says Dr Gandhi. “But all of this could change if the proposed technology takes off.”

 

ASTRONOMERS at the University of Warwick have proposed a cutting-edge technique that could detect water on distant exoplanets, boosting the search for alien life.

The hunt for alien life is very limited due to the vast distances between planets and the technology currently at our disposal. Although scientists can send probes and rovers like NASA’s Perseverance Rover to nearby worlds like Mars, these missions take many months before their targets are reached. And even once these missions reach their destinations, there is no guarantee they are well equipped or sophisticated enough to find any signs of extraterrestrial life.

Matters are further complicated when astronomers study distant exoplanets far beyond our reach.

Often times we can catch a glimpse of these planets’ atmosphere by the light bouncing off them, but we cannot see much further than that.

And if dense clouds are in the way, preventing light from penetrating, the planets’ secrets could be forever hidden from sight.

But researchers at the University of Warwick have now proposed high-resolution spectroscopy technology could potentially detect traces of water well above these impenetrable clouds.

The technique, presented in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, could offer a major boost in the hunt for alien life beyond Earth.

Life as we know it requires water to exist as it is one of the building blocks of life alongside carbon-based molecules and energy.

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New Technique for Tracking Exoplanets Could Help in Search for Habitable Regions of the Universe

July 22, 2020                                  (rt.com)

• There are hundreds of ‘lost planets’ in distant solar systems. The usual method of tracking an exoplanet is to train the telescope on the star and then wait for a dip in brightness to indicating an object (i.e.: a planet) passing in front of the star in its orbit around the star. The telescope will then follow the planet’s trajectory until it disappears behind the star. It is then ‘lost’.

• Astronomers at the University of Warwick (in Coventry, England) have added an additional way of tracking these exoplanets, in order to ‘rediscover’ them. They track the planet’s orbit from their telescope, but they also track it from another telescope elsewhere on Earth. This allows astronomers to determine its speed and orbital trajectory around the back of the star, and to determine its temperature based on its proximity to the star. Once they know the planet’s orbit, they can gauge when it will reappear on the other side of the star in its continuing orbit.

• For example, the exoplanet known as NGTS-11b orbits a star 620 light-years away. The planet has the size and mass of Saturn and an orbit of 35 days, which makes it relatively close to its star. According to Dr. Samuel Gill at the University of Warwick, “Longer (orbital) period planets are cooler, more like the planets in our own solar system.” But with its relatively short 35 day orbit, NGTS-11b is close to its star and therefore quite hot – 320 degrees Fahrenheit. But it is still cooler than the planet Mercury. So it is close, but not within the ‘Goldilocks Zone’ where a planet may have liquid water and be able to harbor life (as we know it).

• The findings open up a new world of potential planets within the ‘Goldilocks zone’ of a far distant solar system that could potentially harbor extraterrestrial life.

 

The rediscovery of a planet lost in outer space could signal the beginning of tracking a habitable world in the ‘Goldilocks zone’ of a far distant solar system.

                      Dr. Samuel Gill

The planet is one of hundreds of ‘lost’ planets discovered by astronomers from the University of Warwick, and was the result of a new way of tracking and logging planets in hopes of finding something similar to our own.

Some of these lost planets reside in the Goldilocks zone – a particular range of orbits that allow the existence of liquid on a planet’s surface: too close to the sun and it will be too hot, too far away, too cold.

To accomplish the research, the team adapted the usual transit method of tracking a planet, in which the telescope waits for a dip in light that indicates that there is an object passing between the telescope and a star. It then follows the planet’s trajectory for 27 days before it disappears.

In this instance, however, the team followed the planet and further tracked it from a different station, allowing them to assess its speed and therefore orbit.

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Men Are Far More Likely Than Women to Want a Close Encounter With Aliens, Oxford University Study Finds

Listen to “E106 9-25-19 Men Are Far More Likely Than Women to Want a Close Encounter With Aliens, Oxford University Study Finds” on Spreaker.
Article by Danyal Hussain                     September 10, 2019                      (dailymail.co.uk)

• Dr Peter Hatfield of the Department of Physics at the University of Oxford told the audience at the British Science Festival, hosted by the University of Warwick, that an Oxford study shows that 55 per cent of men want to reach out to extraterrestrials, compared to 47 per cent of women.

• A Survation poll revealed that 11% of those polled favored a global referendum on the matter of seeking extraterrestrial contact. But it if there were a planet-wide vote, the majority of the 2,000 people surveyed said they would want to initiate contact.

• Hatfield told the crowd, “No-one knows if or when we will receive a message from extraterrestrials, but astronomers are listening – and it could happen any time.” One scientist who spoke at the event said that there was a 10% chance that contact with aliens could take place in the next 10 years.

• The study also compared Brits who favor ET contact with Brits who favor Brexit. Those who favored Britain staying within the EU – 66% – also favored initiating contact with ETs.

• According to the study, if we do receive a message from outer space, the public seems to have more confidence in scientists having a key role in the decision-making process of potentially replying, than politicians. Dr Hatfield says that scientists give a ten percent chance, on average, that humans will make contact with extraterrestrials within the next 100 years.

• Dr Leah Trueblood, from the Department of Law at the University of Oxford, said that the number of people responding with “I don’t know” suggests that the public is open-minded and open to persuasion. “[B]eing open to persuasion is good news” says Trueblood. “It’s also fascinating that most our responses were in favour of contacting aliens. Those surveyed are clearly much braver than me.” “[T]his is a hugely frightening prospect.”

• There is currently no international law setting out the protocol for making contact with extraterrestrials. In March 1996, the International Academy of Astronautics published a post-detections protocol which stated: “No response to a signal or other evidence of extraterrestrial intelligence should be sent until appropriate international consultations have taken place.”

• [Editor’s Note]  Yes, don’t worry all of you frightened, simple-minded civilians; the Deep State scientists – who are trained to deny the obvious extraterrestrial presence – have everything under control… so long as those paychecks keep coming.

 

Men are more enthusiastic about speaking to aliens than women, new research from the University of Oxford has revealed.

Announced at the British Science Festival hosted by the University of Warwick, the data said that 55 per cent of men want to reach out to extraterrestrials, compared to just 47 per cent of women.

  Dr Peter Hatfield

Eleven per cent of those polled by Survation even said they would want a global referendum on the matter.

And, if it was left to a planet-wide vote, the majority of the 2,000 people surveyed said they would want to initiate contact.

Only 14 per cent would not want to initiate contact with aliens, though nine per cent wouldn’t vote and 11 per cent would not know what to do.

                    Dr Leah Trueblood

One scientist, who spoke at the event, even said that there was a 10 per cent chance contact with aliens could take place in the next 10 years.

Perhaps a sign of the public’s distrust in politicians, Brits would also pick scientists over MPs to decide what to do.

Interestingly, positions on Brexit also influenced whether people would want to initiate contact with aliens or not.
They survey also looked at the differences between Brexit voters.

Those who voted to Remain were more likely to vote to initiate contact than those who voted to Leave, at 66 per cent and 54 per cent respectively.

Dr Peter Hatfield, from the Department of Physics at the University of Oxford, said: ‘No-one knows if or when we will receive a message from extraterrestrials, but astronomers are listening – and it could happen any time.

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UK Leads Hunt for Aliens With £25 Million Fund to Find Extraterrestrials

by Sean Martin                   March 8, 2019                    (express.co.uk)

• The UK Space Agency has announced it will spend £25 million on the ‘Planetary Transits and Oscillations of Stars’ mission, placing 26 telescopes and cameras around the globe which will look for habitable planets in the ‘Goldilocks zone’ in one million nearby star systems. The mission will be headquartered at the University of Warwick (Coventry, England).

• The telescopes will look at the transit zones of the star when a planet crosses the face of a star, and scientists can note a dip in brightness. The telescopes will then examine the chemical make-up of the planets, and look for ‘biosignatures’ – signs of life. Science Minister Chris Skidmore said, “(This mission) may eventually lead to us answering the question of whether extra-terrestrial life exists.”

• Professor Don Pollacco of the University of Warwick leading the PLATO Science Management Consortium, said, “These planets will be close enough to facilitate a historic search for signs of life in their atmospheres using the next generation of large telescopes. For the first time we will start to understand if life exists beyond the solar system.”

• The UK government will also spend £10million to help create the ‘Solar wind Magnetosphere Ionosphere Link Explorer’, which will examine how space weather interacts with Earth. “Space weather – such as solar wind – is a potential threat to our communications systems here on Earth so this research examining how the wind interacts with our planet’s electromagnetic system is important,” said Skidmore.

• “[O]ur investment will ensure UK scientists and engineers will be leading participants in all aspects of the mission… through our ongoing membership of the European Space Agency,” Chris Lee, Chief Scientist at the UK Space Agency, said. “(This) is a game changer in Exoplanet science.”

 

The UK Space Agency has announced it is committing the large sum to a mission which will browse the universe for signs of life. The mission is known as Plato, short for Planetary Transits and Oscillations of Stars, and will use 26 telescopes and cameras around the globe which will examine one million nearby star systems. University of Warwick is heading the mission, which states the plan is to look for habitable planets that are orbiting the ‘goldilocks zone’ – a region around a host star where it is neither too hot nor too cold.

The telescopes will look at the transit zones of the star to determine this. The transit zone is when a planet crosses the face of a star, and scientists can note a dip in brightness.

The telescopes will then examine the chemical make-up of the planets, and look for ‘biosignatures’ – signs of life.

Science Minister Chris Skidmore said: “Work to discover Earth-like planets around other stars may eventually lead to us answering the question of whether extra-terrestrial life exists.”

Professor Don Pollacco, University of Warwick, which leads the PLATO Science Management Consortium, said: “These planets will be close enough to facilitate a historic search for signs of life in their atmospheres using the next generation of large telescopes.

“For the first time we will start to understand if life exists beyond the solar system.”

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