There Might Be Purple Aliens On Other Planets, According To A New Study

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Are there purple aliens on other planets? That’s the theory promoted in new research published in the International Journal of Astrobiology by microbiologist Shiladitya DasSarma from the University of Maryland School of Medicine and Edward Schwieterman from the University of California at Riverside, as reported by LiveScience.

Scientists contend that also here on our planet, well before green plants harnessed the energy of the Sun, there were small purple organisms doing the same thing. And a similar situation may be taking place on other planets as well.

“Astronomers have discovered thousands of new extrasolar planets recently and are developing the capacity to see surface biosignatures” in the light reflected from these planets, he told Live Science. There are already ways to detect green life from space, he said, but scientists might need to start looking for purple, too,” explained Shiladitya DasSarma, cited by LiveScience.

There might be purple aliens on other planets, according to DasSarma and Schwieterman

In 2007, Shiladitya DasSarma and his co-workers developed the theory that the primitive Earth was full of purple organisms as early plants and photosynthesizing algae absorbed the energy from the Sun but not from the green light. The researchers hypothesized that during the chlorophyll photosynthesizers evolution, there was “something else” that used green light which is the richest in energy.

According to the scientists, simple organisms were absorbing green light with retinal pigments which are the best for this light spectrum. In this regard, Schwieterman said, modern purple organisms, known as halophiles, are directly linked with some of the earliest life on Earth, living around the methane vents of the oceans.

As reported by DasSarma and Schwieterman in their study’s report, as the earliest life on Earth adopted this strategy, so can the organisms on other planets. That meant, there might be purple aliens on the worlds outside our Solar System. “If these organisms were present in sufficient densities on an exoplanet, those reflection properties would be imprinted on that planet’s reflected light spectrum,” Schwieterman concluded.

Vadim Ioan Caraiman

Vadim is a passionate writer on various topics but especially on stuff related to health, technology, and science. Therefore, for Great Lakes Ledger, Vadim will cover health and Sci&Tech news.