Director: Center for Computational Astrophysics, Flatiron
Charles Young Professor Emeritus, Princeton University
Co-Chair: NASA WFIRST Form. Science Working Group
Lecturer, “Imagining Other Earths”, Free COURSERA lectures
https://www.coursera.org/learn/life-on-other-planets
How will humanity first discover ET Life?
Best guess: Biosignature
Why we will need to wait for advanced lifeforms to contact us:
– Nearby Sun-like stars differ in age by billions of years. Life on nearby exoplanets is likely a billion years older or billion years younger than on Earth
– Timescale for technological evolution is much more rapid. E.g., we now commute primarily through compressed signals on optical fibers. Compressed signals look like noise— can’t eavesdrop on advanced civilizations.
There’s a starman waiting in the sky He’d like to come and meet us But he thinks he’d blow our minds There’s a starman waiting in the sky He’s told us not to blow it Cause he knows it’s all worthwhile – David Bowie
Q
We can detect simpler lifeforms through their biosignatures
– Oxygen, Ozone, Methane: signature of active biochemistry
– Need to develop the ability to image and characterize the atmospheres of exoplanets
– Cosmology drove the design of telescopes for the past century: Hale’s 100in to the James Webb Space Telescope. Search for the signatures of life will drive the design of telescopes for the next century
– WFIRST will be both a powerful telescope for cosmology (Hubble-class telescope with 100x field of view) and for advancing study of exoplanets
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