May 7, 2009 5:50 pm US/Eastern
Search For Life On Other Planets To Begin In Balt.
BALTIMORE (WJZ) ―
-
-
Whether primitive or advanced, finding life on another planet would be huge, and it could just happen right here in Baltimore.
Whether primitive or advanced, finding life on another planet would be huge, and it could just happen right here in Baltimore.
Alex DeMetrick reports the science needed to make that discovery is very close.
From telescopes on the tops of mountains to those orbiting the earth, up to 300 planets have been detected around other stars.
Not seen directly, they are revealed by gravity.
"Big planet orbiting around it, the star is going to wobble quite a bit. Small planet orbiting around it, the star is going to wobble a really little," said Dr. Lisa Kaltenegger, astrophysicist
It's the little ones that have brought scientists from around the world to the Space Telescope Institute in Baltimore for a conference on life outside our solar system.
"What we have is the amazing opportunity with the technology now to go out and look for it," said Kaltenegger.
Here's how it works. When a distant planet passes in front of its star, the light that shines through its atmosphere can be broken down into chemical signatures and determine if there is life.
The Webb Space Telescope might be able to find those planets. The size of a tennis court, it will orbit one million miles out. Sixty times as powerful as the Hubble, it will search for small, rocky worlds with that golden fingerprint.
The search for other planets with life begins in 2013 with the launch of the Webb Space Telescope.
Like the Hubble, headquarters for that telescope will remain in Baltimore.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
Click to enlarge
Stumble It!
Reporting
