Life in the Cosmic Trenches: The Search for Signs of Life Beyond Earth

For thousands of years, inspired by the star-filled dark night sky, people have wondered what lies beyond Earth. Today, the search for signs of life is a key factor in modern-day planetary exploration. Astronomers have found thousands of planets that orbit nearby stars, called "exoplanets". The newly launched James Webb Space telescope will enable us to study gases in rocky exoplanet atmospheres, including gases that might be attributed to life.