An optical space telescope designed to search for habitable exoplanets will be presented in 2025. The main goal of the mission is to image at least 25 potentially habitable worlds, UNN reports with reference to Evan Gough and Universe Today.
Details
Scientists have found many planets in probable habitable star systems, but they still cannot be sure whether these planets have liquid water.
But new inventions are emerging, and the complex goal of studying the composition of exoplanets may become part of future discoveries, which scientists will later announce, explaining the role of a key observation instrument. It is quite likely that the Habitable Worlds Observatory (HWO) may soon play this role.
Reference
HWO is a proposed infrared/optical/ultraviolet space telescope designed to search for and characterize potentially habitable exoplanets. The primary goal of the mission is to obtain direct images of at least 25 potentially habitable planets.
The development will be presented at HWO2025 and submitted to the Astronomical Society of the Pacific. The lead author is Nicolas Cowan from the Department of Physics at McGill University in Montreal, Canada.
HWO is expected to be able to detect surface water. Scientists describe this in a new article posted on the arXiv preprint server titled "Detecting Surface Liquid Water on Exoplanets."
Finding an ocean on an exoplanet would be a huge achievement
Planets with large bodies of water on their surface will have a more moderate and stable climate, and such planets are ideal places for the emergence and development of life as we know it. The key scientific justification for the Habitable Worlds Observatory (HWO) is to determine which planets have liquid water on their surface
Direct detection of water will tell a lot about exoplanets and astrobiology, and will also help scientists refine their theories of planet formation.
Principle: the reflection from the smooth surface of liquids should be "seen" by HWO
Liquids reflect light differently than solids, and this is the basis of HWO's ability to detect water. Liquids have smoother surfaces, which means they have distinct light signatures due to specular reflection. Specular reflection is when parallel light waves reflect off a very smooth surface and remain parallel after reflection. The smoother the surface, the greater their parallelism.
Liquids have smoother surfaces than most solids, and therefore exhibit specular reflection instead of diffuse reflection
Due to specular reflection, oceans and large bodies of water appear dark from most angles. But when viewed from an angle where specular reflection sends light, they appear bright and even mirror-like.
On orbiting exoplanets, HWO should be able to detect large bodies of water.
Recall
Scientists have revealed the mystery of the disappearance of carbonaceous meteorites during immersion in Earth's atmosphere.
Curiosity rover discovered a mineral in Gale Crater that indicates an ancient carbon cycle necessary for life.