NASA says we might find alien pollution before we find aliens

[Mike Wehner]

• If intelligent alien civilizations exist in space, it's possible that we may find signs of their existence before we find the aliens themselves.
• A new study by NASA suggests that industrialized civilizations on distant worlds may be just as bad at managing their pollution as we are, and we may be able to spot their dirty atmospheres from afar.
• If we can detect the presence of nitrogen oxide in a planet's atmosphere, it may be a sign that they are burning fuels like oil or coal, just like we do.

If there's one thing humans are really good at, it's messing up the planet. I mean, we're the only species on the planet capable of ruining it on a large scale, and that's exactly what we're doing. Since we are the only "intelligent" life form that we know about, it makes sense that, if intelligent alien civilizations exist, they might be just as bad at managing their pollution as we are. NASA says that could end up being helpful if we ever want to find aliens.

In a new NASA study set to be published in the Astrophysical Journal, researchers explain that by hunting for planets with certain ingredients in their atmospheres, we may be able to filter for planets with a higher probability of hosting life akin to our own species. Put simply, if we can find a planet with a dirty atmosphere, something may be responsible for it being dirty, and that something could be aliens.

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NASA says we might find alien pollution before we find aliens originally appeared on BGR.com on Sat, 13 Feb 2021 at 10:33:42 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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