Scientists Say, Laughing Gas May Be Key , to Finding Life on Distant Planets.
Phys.org reports that scientists have suggested that the search for life on planets around other stars has overlooked a key chemical: laughing gas.
Typically, scientists are searching for chemical compounds in a planet's atmosphere that are found in abundance in Earth's atmosphere today.
There's been a lot of thought put into oxygen and methane as biosignatures.
Fewer researchers have seriously considered nitrous oxide, but we think that may be a mistake, Eddie Schwieterman, astrobiologist in UCR's Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, via Phys.org.
The team first determined how much nitrous oxide could be produced by living things on a planet similar to Earth.
Then, the team used simulations to determine amounts of N₂O that an observatory like the James Webb Space Telescope could detect.
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Then, the team used simulations to determine amounts of N₂O that an observatory like the James Webb Space Telescope could detect.
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In a star system like TRAPPIST-1, the nearest and best system to observe the atmospheres of rocky planets, you could potentially detect nitrous oxide at levels comparable to CO2 or methane, Eddie Schwieterman, astrobiologist in UCR's Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, via Phys.org.
The team believes that the current search for life fails to account for periods in Earth's history when conditions would have allowed for higher levels of N₂O.
We wanted to put this idea forward to show it's not out of the question we'd find this biosignature gas, if we look for it, Eddie Schwieterman, astrobiologist in UCR's Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, via Phys.org.
Details of the team's work were published in 'The Astrophysical Journal.'
