---
title: "Scientists Already Plotting How James Webb Could Detect Alien Civilizations"
description: "The James Webb Space Telescope hasn't even kicked off scientific operations — but astronomers are already eager to search for other civilizations using it."
date: "2022-02-22"
modified: "2022-02-22"
authors:
  - name: "Victor Tangermann"
    job_title: "Senior Editor"
    link: "https://futurism.com/authors/victor"
url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/james-webb-alien-civilizations"
categories:
  - "James Webb Space Telescope"
  - "NASA"
  - "Space"
tags:
  - "james webb space telescope"
  - "JWST"
  - "the digest"
  - "TRAPPIST-1"
---

# Scientists Already Plotting How James Webb Could Detect Alien Civilizations

![The James Webb Space Telescope hasn't even kicked off scientific operations — but astronomers are already eager to search for other civilizations using it.](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/james-webb-telescope-detect-alien-civilizations2.jpg>)
*\<em\>Image: Getty\</em\>*

## Alien Pollution

NASA's James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) hasn't even officially [kicked off scientific operations](<https://www.stsci.edu/jwst>), but astronomers are already eager to search for alien civilizations using the uber-expensive observatory.

The telescope is powerful enough to directly image individual exoplanets orbiting distant stars, a tantalizing prospect that some say could lead to us finding out once and for all if we're alone in the universe — or not.

In a [not-yet-peer-reviewed paper](<https://arxiv.org/pdf/2202.05858.pdf>) spotted [by *Universe Today*](<https://phys.org/news/2022-02-webb-telescope-civilizations-air-pollution.html>), a team of astronomers from NASA and other institutions suggested that the JWST could be used to spot planets with detectable traces of chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) in their atmosphere.

Their reasoning: greenhouses gases like CFCs could be signs of extraterrestrial civilizations, since the same gases led to humanity punching a hole in the Earth's ozone layer, in a clear marker of an industrialized civilization. In short, aliens who have polluted their atmosphere could provide a giveaway sign of extraterrestrial life.

## Thirst TRAPPIST-1

The team even identified a good first target to look for CFCs: TRAPPIST-1, a system made up of several Earth-sized planets orbiting a red dwarf star a mere 40 light-years away.

"CFCs are a notable example of a technosignature on Earth, and the detection of CFCs on a planet like TRAPPIST-1e would be difficult to explain through any biological or geologic features we know of today," read the paper.

TRAPPIST-1 is relatively dim, which means the JWST's infrared spectrometers wouldn't be overpowered by it. In fact, our own Sun would be far too bright if a telescope like the JWST were to attempt the same thing, but from a TRAPPIST-1 vantage point.

But that could soon change as we come up with even more capable technologies.

"In the next few decades there will be at least two of Earth’s passive technosignatures, radio emissions and atmospheric pollution, that would be detectable by our own technology around the nearest star," the team concludes.

**READ MORE:** [Webb Telescope might be able to detect other civilizations by their air pollution](<https://phys.org/news/2022-02-webb-telescope-civilizations-air-pollution.html>) \[*Universe Today*\]

**More on the JWST:** *[The James Webb Space Telescope Just Locked Onto Its First Star](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/webb-locks-on>)*

## Author
I've been at Futurism since 2017, where my role has evolved to encompass design, writing, and increasingly editing. I've always been fascinated by space exploration and advanced transportation, which I've leaned into by interviewing luminaries in those fields while closely following the dimensions of policy and regulation that allow next-generation projects to succeed -- or, sometimes, to fail. I'm also keenly interested in the effects of generative AI on society, policies, and democratic institutions, as well as clean energy, physics and biology, and the vagaries of tech leadership. My work for Futurism has been cited by publications including Ars Technica, Gizmodo, PC Magazine, Jalopnik, Fox News, and the New York Post. I spent my childhood living in locations including Manila, the Philippines, and Geneva, Switzerland, attended McGill University, and now live in Toronto, Canada. Before Futurism I worked at AskMen and a small photography studio. In my free time, I'm an avid gardener, foodie, and craft beer lover, as well as a maker of artisanal hot pepper sauces. I have a magnificent dog named Freida.

### Author social links  
[Bluesky](<https://bsky.app/profile/vtanger.bsky.social>)