Searching for signs of pollution on faraway planets, as well as researching them, can lead to the discovery of extraterrestrials. This is what AFP announced, referring to conclusions made by scientists from the Harvard–Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics.
It is believed that under certain conditions, astronomers will be on their way to finding the presence of extraterrestrials in the coming years. The experts can study the atmosphere of planets located outside the Solar System and can detect the presence of methane or oxygen, which in turn might be a product of microbes or intelligent forms of life.
An alien civilization might also be giving off other gases (such as chlorofluorocarbons), as we do here on Earth, further states the study.
Scientists would be able to determine the presence of such gases in distant planets with the help of the James Webb Space Telescope. It will be launched by NASA in 2018.
NASA explains that this new telescope will be about 10 to 100 times more powerful than Hubble. The authors of the study state that thanks to this method, they will be able to find traces of extraterrestrial civilizations that have already destroyed themselves, as well as forms of intelligent life.
Some pollution remains in Earth's atmosphere just 10 years but other types can disappear after 50 thousand years.
Astrophysicists believe that developed alien societies might create conditions on their own planets, due to which an analogous greenhouse effect might have occurred for them as well.
Avi Loeb is co-author of the study and stresses that such investigations will be very beneficial for our own existence on Earth.
According to the expert, we may often speculate that extraterrestrials will be intelligent and live in a clean environment, but we cannot avoid to mention that there might also be a darker scenario.
It is possible for facts to come out in the open, which would warn us about what types of dangers to expect should we continue to be irrational caretakers of our own planet.
