Scientists Create Image Showing How Aliens View Earth

A team of scientists created a new image of Earth to show how aliens might view it from deep space. According to the scientists, their creation and study could provide helpful information in the search for other habitable exoplanets.

The scientists came up with the concept for their study after analyzing the difficulties involved in identifying alien planets that are capable of supporting life. As indicated in previous studies, some of the key components of habitable planets include liquid water and a stable temperature.

As a solution to these issues, the scientists turned to Earth and its qualities. They then constructed an image of how Earth would look like through the eyes of alien astronomers, Science Mag reported.

To create the new map of Earth, the team used around 10,000 images that were taken by NASA’s Deep Space Climate Observatory (DSCOVR) satellite from 2016 to 2017. The images were taken every one to two hours at 10 different wavelengths during this period.

To simulate how the Earth would appear from an observer thousands of light-years away, the scientists reduced the images into a single brightness reading for each wavelength. By doing so, they were able to reproduce light curves over the images to represent a prolonged view of the planet.

After comparing the new map of Earth with the original image, the scientists were able to identify the specific light curves that represented land masses and cloud cover.

Although the image may not be an actual representation of how a real alien from space would view Earth, the scientists believe it could serve as a map that astronomers can use in order to identify certain characteristics of certain planets such as oceans and land.

“We present the first two-dimensional surface map of Earth reconstructed from light curve observations without any assumptions of its spectral properties,” the scientists said in a statement. “This study serves as a baseline for reconstructing the surface features of Earth-like exoplanets in the future.”

The scientists’ study is currently available through Cornell University’s arXiv.org site and will be eventually published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters.