00:01The stars above, what secrets do they keep? One of our biggest questions has
00:08always been, are we alone? We've now discovered thousands of planets beyond
00:14our solar system, but how many of those distant worlds have the conditions for
00:18life as we know it? How many have water vapor, a beacon indicating that oceans
00:25might be present? How many of gases like oxygen and methane, possible signs of
00:32life itself? And of those, which might truly have life? After decades of asking,
00:40a future NASA telescope could bring us the answers.
00:46The habitable world's observator is a future mission designed in the
00:52tradition of the Hubble and Webb Space Telescopes. It will use its unique and
00:58sensitive eyes to see planets like our own, hiding in the light of their distant
01:03stars. Astronomers could then point this mighty space observatory to the most
01:13promising planets, those that may hold liquid water.
01:20With the help of its coronagraph instrument, which blocks out the dazzling starlight, the
01:25telescope will look for undiscovered Earth-sized planets in the star's habitable zone where
01:32liquid water could exist. The light from each planet will be split into a vibrant spectrum
01:39of colors, revealing clues to the chemical signatures we seek. From there we can attempt to discover
01:46if a planet's atmosphere contains water, and from there other signals like oxygen or methane.
01:54Should all these signs align, the habitable world's observatory would delve deeper to reveal other hidden
02:03clues of life.
02:07With further study, we could find signs of sprawling oceans and rugged continents. And if signs of
02:17life are revealed, keep a watchful eye for changes over time. This magnificent observatory could discover dozens
02:30of worlds akin to our own in its first five years. The telescope will gather data on a wide variety
02:38of
02:38worlds, placing our own solar system in the context within the grand tapestry of existence. And the
02:47habitable world's observatory will, like the other great cosmic watchers Hubble, Chandra, Spitzer, Webb and
02:53soon Roman, also conduct a wide range of revolutionary observations of our cosmos, improving our
03:02understanding of how our universe led to potentially habitable worlds. Thus, the habitable world's
03:12observatory will help us embark on a quest as grand as any, to tell the story of life in the
03:21cosmos, and
03:23whether or not we are alone.
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