Domain of Science: Is This How We'll Find Aliens? Atomic Spectroscopy

Teacher or professor: Domain of Science
Subject: Science
Content of the Lesson: Arguably the most likely way we will first discover alien life on another planet will be using the power of atomic spectroscopy. You can grab the Map of Quantum Physics here https://store.dftba.com/collections/domain-of-science/products/map-of-quantum-physics-poster Aliens will most likely leave a tell tale trace of their life in the atmosphere’s of their planet. But how do we know what chemicals the atmosphere of a distant planet contains? The answer is atomic spectroscopy. If we see a planet passing in front of it’s star, some of that starlight is absorbed in a very specific pattern called an atomic absorption spectrum. Each element has a specific pattern like a barcode, so through careful analysis of the light it can tell us which gasses are in the atmosphere and their proportions. We already use this technique for other space objects like stars and nebulae, measuring properties like temperature, density, ionization and relative velocity. This is a gift that nature and quantum physics has given us and the majority of what we know about the universe is based on this technique. #spectroscopy #quantummechanics #aliens If you’d like to support my free educational content: https://www.patreon.com/domainofscience --- Posters ---- DFTBA Store: https://store.dftba.com/collections/domain-of-science RedBubble Store: https://www.redbubble.com/people/DominicWalliman I have also made posters available for educational use which you can find here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/95869671@N08/ -- Some Awesome People --- And many thanks to my $10 supporters on Patreon, you are awesome! Theodore Chu Petr Murmak Sebastian Eric Epstein Alex Polo Kevin Delaney Join the gang and help support me produce free and high quality science content: https://www.patreon.com/domainofscience --- My Science Books ---- I also write science books for kids called Professor Astro Cat. You can see them all here: http://profastrocat.com --- Follow me around the internet --- http://dominicwalliman.com https://twitter.com/DominicWalliman https://www.instagram.com/dominicwalliman --- Credits --- Music and SFX by Dominic Walliman


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