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Is Methane the Key to Finding Life on Other Worlds?

How would detecting methane help astronomers identify if exoplanets, or even exomoons, have life as we know it, or even as we don’t know it? This is what a recent study published in The Astronomical Journal hopes to address as a team of researchers led by the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center investigated how a method called BARBIE (Bayesian Analysis for Remote Biosignature Identification on exoEarths) could be used on a future space mission to detect methane (CH4) on Earth-like exoplanets in optical (visible) and near-infrared (NIR) wavelengths. This study builds on past studies using BARBIE, known as BARBIE 1 and BARBIE 2, and has the potential to help scientists and engineers develop new methods for finding life beyond Earth and throughout the cosmos.

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