The next generation of space telescopes will be capable of detecting “biosignatures” in the light from planets orbiting other stars (Image: G. Bacon STSCI / ESA / NASA)
SIGNS of life on planets beyond our own solar system may soon be in our sights. Experiments and calculations presented at an astrobiology meeting last week reveal how the coming generation of space telescopes will for the first time be capable of detecting “biosignatures” in the light from planets orbiting other stars.
Any clues about life on these exoplanets will have to come from the tiny fraction of the parent star’s light…
