New Methane-Hunting Tool Could Boost Search for Alien Life

New Methane-Hunting Tool Could Boost Search for Alien Life
By Megan Gannon, News Editor | June 16, 2014 03:00pm ET

Astronomers now have a powerful new tool to sniff out methane on alien planets. The organic molecule, considered one of the building blocks of life, could be key to finding organisms beyond Earth.

Using supercomputers, a team of scientists developed a new absorption spectrum for methane that's 2,000 times more comprehensive than previous models and can detect the molecule at temperatures up to 2,228 degrees Fahrenheit (1,220 degrees Celsius), higher than ever before.

"We've probably been waiting for this paper for 10 or 20 years," said MIT astrophysicist and exoplanet hunter Sara Seager, who was not involved in the study. The Strangest Alien Planets (Gallery)

Different molecules absorb light in different, telltale ways. When astronomers look at how the atmospheres of exoplanets absorb starlight, they can compare it to a spectrum to identify which molecules these alien worlds are made of. But previous methane spectra left out a range of absorption lines, especially for high temperatures, because no one had undertaken the immense task of calculating how the molecules would absorb light in higher energy states, Seager told Space.com.

More:
http://www.space.com/26259-methane-detection-tool-alien-life.html