Skip to main content

How the James Webb Space Telescope will look for life around dead stars

Looking for life around dead stars

When NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope launches next year, it may be able to find indications of life beyond our planet in an unexpected location — on planets which orbit dead stars called white dwarfs.

Recommended Videos

A recent study found an intact planet orbiting around a white dwarf, which surprised astronomers as in their death throes these stars usually destroy the planets around them when they swell before collapsing to form the white dwarf. But this planet somehow survived, giving a clue to a new type of location where we could search for habitable planets.

Rendering of a planet transiting a white dwarf star.
Rendering of a planet transiting a white dwarf star. Jack Madden, Carl Sagan Institute, Cornell University

“If rocky planets exist around white dwarfs, we could spot signs of life on them in the next few years,” Lisa Kaltenegger, one of the authors of the new study and associate professor of astronomy in the College of Arts and Sciences and director of the Carl Sagan Institute, said in a statement.

Her co-author Ryan MacDonald, also at the Carl Sagan Institute, agreed that planets orbiting white dwarf are a prime target for searches for life: “We know now that giant planets can exist around white dwarfs, and evidence stretches back over 100 years showing rocky material polluting light from white dwarfs. There are certainly small rocks in white dwarf systems,” he said. “It’s a logical leap to imagine a rocky planet like the Earth orbiting a white dwarf.”

To actually discover if there are habitable planets around these dead stars, researchers will make use of new tools like NASA’s upcoming James Web Space Telescope. This instrument is so sensitive it will be able to detect whether distant planets have an atmosphere, which is a key requirement for habitability, and even whether that atmosphere contains gases that could indicate life.

Rendering of a white dwarf star on the horizon of a mountainous planet.
Rendering of a white dwarf star on the horizon of a mountainous planet. Jack Madden, Carl Sagan Institute, Cornell University

“When observing Earth-like planets orbiting white dwarfs, the James Webb Space Telescope can detect water and carbon dioxide within a matter of hours,” MacDonald said. “Two days of observing time with this powerful telescope would allow the discovery of biosignature gases, such as ozone and methane.”

The telescope is set to launch in 2021, when it will be able to begin its search for habitable worlds. The recently discovered planet orbiting a white dwarf, WD 1856 b, is a gas giant like Jupiter and therefore couldn’t host life, but finding it has opened the door to a new range of possibilities of where life could be located.

“What if the death of the star is not the end for life?” Kaltenegger said. “Could life go on, even once our sun has died? Signs of life on planets orbiting white dwarfs would not only show the incredible tenacity of life, but perhaps also a glimpse into our future.”

Georgina Torbet
Georgina has been the space writer at Digital Trends space writer for six years, covering human space exploration, planetary…
James Webb captures a stunning view of the dreamy Flame Nebula
Webb's image of the Flame Nebula

Our universe is host to many beautiful and fascinating objects, and we're lucky enough to be able to view many of them using high tech instruments like the James Webb Space Telescope. A new Webb image shows a new view of the gorgeous Flame Nebula, an emission nebula located in the constellation of Orion.

This nebula is a busy stellar nursery, with many new stars being formed there. But it isn't stars which researchers were interested in when they looked to the nebula -- in this case, they were studying objects called brown dwarfs. Bigger than most planets but smaller than a star, brown dwarfs are too small to sustain fusion in their cores, so they are often referred to as failed stars.

Read more
James Webb to join observations of asteroid that could strike Earth in 2032
Artist's impression of an asteroid. This image is not intended to reflect the characteristics of any specific known asteroid.

If you've been following the story of an asteroid that could hit Earth in 2032, there's bad news and good news. The bad news is that the likelihood of the asteroid striking the Earth has now risen slightly, but the good news is that astronomers are using tools like the James Webb Space Telescope to track it in more detail.

The probability that Asteroid 2024 YR4 will impact Earth on December 22, 2032 has now risen to 2.3%, according to NASA. The asteroid is being observed by ground-bases telescopes that are part of the International Asteroid Warning Network, which will be following the it for as long as it continues to be visible -- which should be through April this year. After that, it will be too faint to observe until 2028.

Read more
Gorgeous James Webb Space Telescope images land on new U.S. stamps
A new USPS stamp featuring an image taken by the James Webb Space Telescope.

In a mark of its huge impact on the world of science and astronomy, NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope finds itself once again as the inspiration for a new set of stamps from the United States Postal Service (USPS).

Two new stamps issued this month feature iconic images captured by Webb, one of them showing a spiral galaxy called NGC 628. “Webb’s observations combine near- and mid-infrared light to reveal glowing gas and dust in stark shades of orange and red, as well as finer spiral shapes with the appearance of jagged edges,” NASA said of the image (below), adding that the galaxy is located 32 million light-years away in the Pisces constellation.

Read more