Habitable we hear this word
often in modern astronomy The Oxford dictionary meaning is suitable for
people to live in but we cannot assign just The Oxford meaning when talking about alien
planets with the potential to Harbor life The life forms outside our own Planet could be
drastically different in their anatomy and biology They may be well beyond our imagination and exist
on a planet which lies in the habitable zone of Its host star habitability is no simple matter
because finding another Earth-like planet is Way more complicated than you imagine just
being in the habitable zone is not enough There are many challenges when it comes to
understanding worlds that are different from ours One of the aims of the James Webb Telescope is a
profound one to search for habitable exoplanets Ones that could be hosting a in life with almost
every major space agency and country in the world Hunting for extraterrestrial life a commoner May
wonder why where are we looking for life and why An old joke offers an answer when asked
why on a dark night he was looking for His missing car keys beneath a Street Lamp
the man answered because the light's better Life on other planets might be like nothing
on Earth it could be life as we don't know it But it makes sense at least at first to search
for something more familiar Life as we know it Should be easier to find and the lights better
in the habitable zone or the area around a star Where planetary surface temperatures could
allow the pooling of water two such places Where the light literally is better our Proxima
B and the worlds around trappist-1 ones that Revolve around red dwarfs and have the perfect
mix of conditions necessary to Harbor life Orbit beyond the blue about four light years away
from Earth lies the closest exoplanet detected Till date Proxima B some astronomers have found it
potentially habitable While others have blasted it For the intense x-rays it constantly gets pelted
with by the star it orbits Proxima Centauri Proximity orbits 20 times closer to its star than
the distance at which Earth Journeys around the Sun but because its star is a red dwarf the energy
levels it receives from Proxima Centauri are close To what our planet gets this means that the
temperature of the planet should be mild enough For liquid water to exist on its surface however
there's any guarantee that creatures which didn't Originate on Earth breathe oxygen and absolutely
need water but the conditions on our planet are What we have to go off off around 40 light
years away lies a remarkable star system the Trappist-1 system became world famous five years
ago when NASA announced that it had discovered a Whole Bevy of earth-sized planets orbiting
within the habitable zone of a single star Five years later the planets are still just
as enigmatic if not more in July James Webb Gave us this shot of the Trappist one to the
untrained eye it might look like a pixelated mess But it presents a lot more information at the time
it was believed one of trappists seven earth-sized Planets was passing in front of the star at least
according to the Reddit threads the trappist-1 e
The supposed photo bomber actually was trappist-1b
one that isn't in the star's habitable zone It orbits much too close to the Red Dwarf
for life to stand a chance on its surface Trappist-1e however remains a prime target for
web when it undertakes the Trappist mission It's right smack in the middle of the habitable
zone also known as the Goldilocks zone This is the orbital distance from a star where
the amount of heating is right to allow liquid Water on the surface of a planet both proximity
and trappist-1 planets are tidally locked planets Which means that one side of the planet
is always facing the star bathing in solar Radiation and the other side is enveloped In
Perpetual Darkness whether or not trappist-1 Or proximately could be hotbed of Life most
likely depends on whether an atmosphere exists Because to support life it would need an
atmosphere that could hold its own against 400 times the x-rays that reach Earth and if it
has one life could be thriving in the planet's Twilight Zone the region between the day and
night side and amidst all the life nestled In their laps the trappist-1 or proximity
might give birth to an intelligent species Species could Harbor energy directly from the Star
by building a Dyson Sphere these species could Also be the source of the strange radio signals
that we have detected in the past few decades While the sun could provide them energy it
could also be the reason for their Extinction Red dwarfs produce Stellar flares a lot more
frequently than our sun does the ultraviolet light Of the star during a stellar flare increases by
over 10 000 times in just a fraction of a second If humans could see ultraviolet light it would
be like being Blinded By The Flash of a camera This increase can last for only a couple
of seconds and then gradually decline Such massive flares basically erode away a
bit of the atmosphere of any planets orbiting That star including potentially Earth-like
planet and if you don't have an atmosphere Left on your planet then you definitely
have a pretty hostile environment to life There would be huge amounts of radiation massive
temperature fluctuations and little or no air to Breathe it's not that life would be impossible but
having the surface of a planet basically directly Exposed to space would be an environment totally
different than anything on Earth and that's why For a civilization to grow and Thrive they
will need to make the night side their home Scientists believe that they would build massive
mirrors and have them levitate in the air to Capture light and solar energy or they could
build massive LED lights to illuminate the world Observations from Earth so far tell us that
the chances of Life on proximity or trappist-1 ER slim but not ridiculous there is hope now
more than ever of finding signs of alien life When it comes to life in the universe so far we
only have one confirmed example of success Earth The raw ingredients for life however are found
on many planets this includes both the necessary Building blocks for Life the raw elements and
organic molecules and the necessary conditions
For it too and hopefully we will soon find out
more about the two planetary systems once our Technological Marvel turns its eyes towards the
star systems the James Webb Space Telescope will Not only be able to capture the stars and their
respective planets but also study the atmospheric Composition of the rocky worlds to find telltale
signs of life if there are any artificial lights Webb will be able to detect them too and if
Proxima b or any of the trappist-1 planets Are truly habitable then Humanity has a planet
nearby where we can settle or make our second home To truly become a multi-planetary species
discovery of Life on any of these alien Worlds will change everything for humans for
now we have to wait and watch but what do I know Orbit beyond the blue
