The New Round of Alien Search

The discovery of new planets in the Alpha Centauri, which is only 4.3 light years from Earth, rekindle the spirit of racing discovered twin planet earth which probably inhabited by extraterrestrial life. The new planet, Alpha Centauri Bb, believed to be the first planet with a mass similar to Earth and circling sun-like star anyway.

A new chapter in the search for alien life beyond earth is also supported by the development of super-powered telescope, which is several orders of magnitude more sophisticated than existing telescopes. Including a new space telescope that will replace the role of the Hubble Space Telescope. At the same time, the scientific discussion about the possibility of alien life is also becoming more prominent.

"Scientists are very pleased to be able to talk rationally about the possibility of life out there," said Bob Nichol, an astronomer at Portsmouth University, UK.

A handout image released on October 15, 2012 by European Southern Observatory (ESO) shows an artist impression of a planet orbiting the star Alpha Centauri B, a member of the triple star system that is the closest to Earth. Alpha Centauri B is the most brilliant object in the sky and the other dazzling object is Alpha Centauri A. Our own Sun is visible to the upper right. (Picture from: http://news.nationalpost.com/)

Nichol said that the discovery of new planets, such as new planets identified in the Alpha Centauri star system last week, was also encouraging. More than 800 exoplanets (the term for planets outside our solar system) have been discovered since the early 1990s.

"The explosion of the number of planets create greater opportunity," said Nichol. He added that there are many formats that life on Earth is any indication, though not proof, there is life out there.

Scientists from the Geneva Observatory said the new planet that they find it too close to their parent stars and are less likely planets that could support life. However, previous studies indicate that when there is a planet discovered orbiting a star, there are usually other planets in the star.

The Alpha Centauri Bb planet.

With that discovery, several other astronomers began combing Alpha Centauri is now in search of another planet orbiting the star, especially in the zone that is warm enough to be uninhabitable.

"Very realistic to hope that in the coming decades we can conclude whether a planet like earth have oxygen or ozone in the atmosphere, and its surface is covered in vegetation," said Martin Rees, the Astronomer Royal England.

In the next decade, two new telescope that will be the eyes and ears that makes the astronomers were able to see and hear the universe with more depth and breadth.

Square Kilometre Array (SKA) is a radio telescope located in Australia and South Africa. While the European-Extremely Large Telescope (E-ELT), which is located on a mountaintop in the Atacama Desert, Chile, will be the largest optical telescope ever made.

The main task is to investigate both the telescope origin and nature of galaxies in the universe. Both also have to look for other signs of life on planets, which until now only seen in grainy detail.

"With the capabilities of this new telescope, the possibility of detecting the existence of extraterrestrial intelligence (extraterrestrial intelligence) in the coming decades will be much larger than at present," said Mike Garrett, director general of ASTRON, the Netherlands Institute for Radio Astronomy.

With a mirror diameter of nearly 40 meters, the E-ELT could reveal planets orbiting other stars and produces sharp images 16 times more than the Hubble Space Telescope.

While the SKA radio telescope that will be completed in 2024, will have a 3.000 discs, each 15 meters wide. Overall, the series is able to telescope to see 10 times further into the universe and detect the signal that is 10 times older. Including signals emitted by radar military might of millions of stars nearby.

"So, if there was an advanced civilization on the planet that are in the vicinity of these stars, we will be able to see it," said Nichol.

Isobel Hook, an astrophysicist at Oxford University who worked on the E-ELT, said that the new telescope will encourage the search for intelligent life beyond Earth in the new round. "ELT telescope will help us study the atmospheres of extrasolar planets and the search for biological markers, such as water, carbon dioxide and oxygen molecules in the spectrum," said Hook.

With the right equipment Hook said, ELT may use spectroscopy to study the wavelengths of light reflected by an object. "So that the telescope was able to detect indications of vegetation on a distant planet," she said. *** [REUTERS | ESO | TJANDRA DEWI | KORAN TEMPO 4036]