Challenges in Detecting Life on TRAPPIST-1.

Detecting life on exoplanets through their atmosphere is possible, but difficult. Future telescopes with mirrors of 10 meters or more could detect oxygen in an exoplanetary atmosphere, which is a good indicator of life. However, filtering out the signal from the noise will be a challenge, and it could take hundreds of transits and up to 55 years of observations to confirm atmospheric oxygen. The study focused on Trappist-1, a planetary system with seven Earth-sized planets, and found that it would take thousands of transits to get a positive result.