Moon Acts As Mirror, Reflecting Telltale Signs of Life

Moon Acts As Mirror, Reflecting Telltale Signs of Life

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Astronomers have managed to detect the telltale fingerprints of organic life on Earth using a new technique that examines sunlight reflected onto the moon by our planet. The so-called “earthshine” observations may pave the way for a similar tool to help spot signs of alien life in the universe, scientists say.

While the existence of life on our planet is no great surprise, the approach, called spectropolarimetry, could be a valuable tool in the ongoing search for life on worlds beyond Earth, primarily because of how difficult it is to directly observe light signatures from distant alien planets.