In the divided society we currently live in, you might wonder, what does anyone truly have in common? Though we all have differences, there’s one commonality that has prevailed for all of humanity: we are all floating on a rock, flying through outer space at over a million miles an hour.
Thanks to the rapid advancement of technology in the past century, we can observe much more of the universe than we ever thought possible.
The scale and sheer size of the universe make it impossible to truly learn everything, but it doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try.
Here's what's happening in space this week.
NASA has estimated that there are at least 100 billion planets in the Milky Way alone. Though the number could be limitless, NASA has only been able to confirm 5000 exoplanets, or planets existing outside of our solar system.
Could there be life on these planets? Will we ever find out? One researcher believes we can, and we might even be able to detect evidence of life on exoplanets within the next 25 years.
At a recent opening of ETH Zurich's new Center for the Origin and Prevalence of Life, astrophysicist Sascha Quanz stated that researchers may soon have the ability to find out if we are truly alone in the Universe, according to a report by Space.com.
A discovery that major may seem outlandish in just 25 years' time, but only 27 years ago we had no evidence of planets outside of our solar system. The discovery of the first exoplanet was in 1995. Since then, the estimate has jumped to 100 billion and continues to grow.
Quanz's remarks came just one day after the world saw the first direct image of an exoplanet taken by the James Webb Space Telescope. HIP 65426 b is a gas giant 12 times larger than Jupiter.
JWST's capture of an exoplanet is a major accomplishment, however, studying exoplanets is not what the telescope was designed for. It isn't equipped to detect rocky Earth-sized planets which could have water and the building blocks of life.
An undertaking of this stature requires specialized telescopes, which Quanz says are currently being developed. The mid-infrared ELT imagers and spectrograph (METIS) are being developed as part of the Extremely Large Telescope (ELT). The telescope houses a 130-foot-wide mirror and will be the largest telescope of its kind in the world upon completion.
Quanz added that while success is not guaranteed in discovering life on exoplanets, the time frame of 25 years is not unrealistic.
Related
LISTEN on the Audacy App
Tell your Smart Speaker to "PLAY 1080 KRLD"
Sign Up and Follow NewsRadio 1080 KRLD