Researchers Use Earth’s ‘Fingerprint’ to Find Earth-Like Exoplanets

As a means to better understand the potential planets that are capable of supporting life beyond our Solar System, two astronomers from McGill University did something interesting. They created a “fingerprint” for the Earth, which could be used to identify these types of planets. 

Think of it like online dating. You list a series of traits about yourself with the aim of eventually finding someone that shares or at least come close to your interests. The astronomers' breakdown the study further in their academic paper published in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.

Finding a match 

Creating this Earthly fingerprint was no easy feat. The dynamic duo utilized over a decade of observations of Earth's atmosphere taken by the SCISAT satellite to construct a transit spectrum of Earth. This here is our fingerprint. It is a glimpse of Earth's atmosphere in infrared light, which shows the presence of key molecules in the search for habitable worlds. 

One, in particular, is of special importance, methane. Researchers expect to only see the existence of methane when a distant planet has organic sources of these compounds. In short, researchers are out there looking for a biosignature. 

"A handful of researchers have tried to simulate Earth's transit spectrum, but this is the first empirical infrared transit spectrum of Earth," stated Prof. Cowan. "This is what alien astronomers would see if they observed a transit of Earth."

As hinted at above this new tool could it make easier for astronomers to find more Earth-like exoplanets, potentially planting the seeds of colonization in the distant future? It will be interesting to see what new Earth-like planets await us. 

Hopefully, we will find a match soon.