Jakarta, CNBC Indonesia – Scientists managed to find 160 planets out there that are similar to Earth. This identification comes from the 4,500 exoplanets that have been discovered.
However, the next stage of research is still needed to find out more about the planet. Even the United States Space Agency (NASA) was asked to build a new, more sophisticated telescope.
The telescope must be more sophisticated than the existing Hubble. And must be equipped with infrared, optical, and ultraviolet sensors.
“The most amazing scientific opportunity ahead of us in the coming decades is the possibility that we can find life on other planets orbiting stars in the galactic environment,” said Caltech committee Astrophysicist Fiona Harrison. Live Science, Tuesday (9/11/2021).
Reportedly the new telescope will be worth US $ 11 billion or Rp 156 trillion. But you have to be patient because its existence is still in the 2040s.
The National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine have advised agencies such as NASA and the National Science Foundation on astronomers’ priority research goals over the next 10 years.
Three priorities were highlighted: understanding the nature of black holes and neutron stars, and how galaxies form and evolve.
Research is also being carried out to identify other planets that are considered similar to Earth. The planet is predicted to be habitable and see biochemical signs of life in other planetary systems.
That’s where the new telescope functions. “With a telescope like that, we’re going to see different little dots,” Bruce Macintosh, an astrophysicist at Stanford and a member of the committee, told The Atlantic.
He added that by analyzing the light reflected from exoplanets, the chemical composition of the planets’ atmospheres will be known.
The existence of life can be known by the evidence of an atmosphere of oxygen, methane and water. Although astronomers also need to rule out other chemical markers such as volcanic activity.
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