Astronomers now have the technology to identify Earth-like planets, a find that would add fresh impetus to the search for extraterrestrial life, according to a leading science journal.
Planet hunters have spotted more than 200 planets beyond our solar system, but the vast majority are hot, Jupiter-sized planets that would dwarf the Earth and scientists believe are almost certainly lifeless.
Writing in the US journal Science, astronomers from six major centers, including Nasa, Harvard and the University of Colorado, outline how advances in technology suggest scientists are on the verge of being able to detect the presence of small, rocky planets, much like our own, around distant stars for the first time. Such planets are considered the most likely havens for life.
One technique utilizes the shift in light coming from a star as a planet swings around it.
Until recently, this "radial velocity" method has only been sensitive enough to pick up planets far more massive than Earth, but improvements now make the discovery of a second Earth highly likely, said Dave Latham, a co-author on the paper at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics.
"It could happen almost any time now. We have the technological capability to identify Earth-like planets around the smallest stars even now," he said.
Latham said missions such as NASA's planned Kepler space observatory, due to launch in early 2009, would have a high chance of finding Earth-like planets.
"These are the biggest questions. Are there habitable abodes? Are we alone?" he said. "Put it like this. If we don't find anything, I'll have to rethink my agnosticism."
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