NASA is set to launch two rockets – DEUCE and SISTINE -from northern Australia to look at Alpha Centauri A and B, which are two Sun-like stars near our own, in both extreme- and far-ultraviolet light. The former has wavelengths shorter than the light that is visible to the human eye and can help form the molecules necessary for life, although too much UV can erode an atmosphere, creating an inhospitable planet.
Currently, there are approximately 5,000 known exoplanets across the Milky Way galaxy, but only Earth is known to host life. These two missions hope to change that by searching for other exoplanets that could host life as we know it, all of which are in the habitable zone, or the distance from a star where a planet’s surface temperature could support water. DEUCe and SISTINE will launch a week apart to seek out ultraviolet light coming from Alpha Centauri A / B.
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Ultraviolet radiation from the Sun played a role in how Mars lost its atmosphere and how Venus turned into a dry, barren landscape. Understanding ultraviolet radiation is extremely important to understanding what makes a planet habitable,” said Brian Fleming, astronomer at the University of Colorado, Boulder.
