New York – NASA climate scientists after studying the earth for more than 30 years now have finally decided to join the efforts to discover extraterrestrial life or earth-like worlds in the universe. A team of climate scientists at the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS), New York, will make use of a global climate model to replicate conditions possibly prevailing on the habitable exoplanets.
Anthony Del, Genio, climate modeler, and head of this GISS effort team has said that it is time the scientists start considering the exoplanets more than planetary objects. This shift in the thought process has suddenly made extraterrestrial life, not just a topic of study for the astronomers, but now even the climate scientists and planetary scientists are pondering over it.
Exoplanets Similar to Earth
The space-based Kepler telescope from NASA has successfully discovered more than 1,000 exoplanets out of which at least five are said to be similar in size to that of the Earth. Moreover, these planets are located in the habitable zone where scientists are confident about the existence of liquid water. Nature has reported that detecting the light passing through the atmospheres of the exoplanets can hold the clue to the prevailing conditions on the distant planets.
The group of GISS consists of expert scientists from different fields, including planetary scientists, Earth scientists, astrophysicists and solar physicists. A team of nearly 16 such scientists is participating in the new Nexus for Exoplanet System Science Program by NASA. According to Mary Voytek, the organizer of this group, the intention of bringing a bunch of scientists belonging to different disciplines together is to understand the functioning and formation of the planets in different ways.
The scientists believe that once a planet similar to the Earth is found, it will be possible to decipher the microbial alien life form. Although we are used to viewing fictitious Hollywood aliens with green body and eyes, the aliens in reality are not expected to be like these Android formats. Rather, they are expected to be in microbial form.
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