Re:James Webb is fully deployed
by api on Saturday January 08, 2022 @04:57PM
(#29856781)
It could find a candidate biosphere. If we see a lot of free oxygen or other super reactive things like fluorine that would be very suggestive. It’s not proof but we don’t know many other processes that can maintain a high percentage of oxidizers in an atmosphere.
If we saw that the next step would probably be a telescope designed specifically to observe that target. There are some thoughts about using a telescope out near Pluto that could use the sun as a gigantic gravitational lens to photograph an exoplanet and get very detailed spectroscopic information.
If we have a planet nine that is a primordial black hole that would be an absolute killer gravitational lens.
If we saw that the next step would probably be a telescope designed specifically to observe that target. There are some thoughts about using a telescope out near Pluto that could use the sun as a gigantic gravitational lens to photograph an exoplanet and get very detailed spectroscopic information.
If we have a planet nine that is a primordial black hole that would be an absolute killer gravitational lens.