If There's Life on Alien Planet Gliese 581g, How Do We Find It?

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This artist's conception shows the inner four planets of the Gliese 581 system and their host star, a red dwarf only 20 light-years from Earth.
This artist's conception shows the inner four planets of the Gliese 581 system and their host star, a red dwarf only 20 light-years from Earth. The large planet in the foreground is Gliese 581g, whose discovery was announced in September 2010. The planet is in the middle of the star's habitable zone and is only three to four times as massive as Earth. (Image credit: Lynette Cook)

After spending

Yesterday (Sept.

One of the planet's

But it might be a

Listening for

Gliese 581g isn't

So human-built

Such patterns could

The Gliese 581 star

"No signal was

What's in your

Life doesn't have to

This method assumes

"The first

If astronomers

"You're looking

But other, simpler

"Ideally, you'd

As an example, both

"You typically

"Though

Tough job for

So scanning Gliese

Astronomers have

It's only about

"Because they

Jenkins said that

As a result, the

A few decades

One promising tool

TPF would employ

The TPF mission,

Whenever TPF, or

"I would

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Mike Wall
Mike Wall
Senior Space Writer

Michael Wall is a Senior Space Writer with Space.com and joined the team in 2010. He primarily covers exoplanets, spaceflight and military space, but has been known to dabble in the space art beat. His book about the search for alien life, "Out There," was published on Nov. 13, 2018. Before becoming a science writer, Michael worked as a herpetologist and wildlife biologist. He has a Ph.D. in evolutionary biology from the University of Sydney, Australia, a bachelor's degree from the University of Arizona, and a graduate certificate in science writing from the University of California, Santa Cruz. To find out what his latest project is, you can follow Michael on Twitter.