In Chile, Searching for Alien Life in the Sky
2021-11-07
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1With its clear sky and dry air, Chile's Atacama desert is a place where astronomers look up at the night skies for life on other planets.
2They also study dark energy, a mysterious force thought to be driving the growth of the universe.
3Soon, they will have a new Giant Magellan Telescope (GMT) to search into distant worlds beyond Earth.
4The GMT is a $1.8 billion center being built at the Las Campanas observatory.
5The telescope will be able to see 10 times clearer than the well-known Hubble space telescope.
6The GMT is expected to begin operating by 2030.
7It will compete with the nearby European Southern Observatory's Extremely Large Telescope as well as the Thirty Meter Telescope being built in Hawaii.
8Leopoldo Infante is the head of the Las Campanas observatory.
9He said the new generation of giant telescopes is being developed to search for life on other planets and look for the origin of dark energy.
10"It's a race by these three groups for who makes it first and who makes the first discovery," he said.
11Infante said the new large telescope would be able to find molecules in the atmosphere of faraway planets.
12"And whoever detects life on another planet will win the Nobel Prize, I assure you."
13The other prize is studying dark energy which makes up most of the universe.
14Infante said dark energy is causing the universe to expand but scientists do not understand its origin.
15Infante said the GMT will help astronomers study and understand "what that energy is and where that energy comes from."
16I'm Dan Novak.
1With its clear sky and dry air, Chile's Atacama desert is a place where astronomers look up at the night skies for life on other planets. They also study dark energy, a mysterious force thought to be driving the growth of the universe. 2Soon, they will have a new Giant Magellan Telescope (GMT) to search into distant worlds beyond Earth. The GMT is a $1.8 billion center being built at the Las Campanas observatory. The telescope will be able to see 10 times clearer than the well-known Hubble space telescope. 3The GMT is expected to begin operating by 2030. It will compete with the nearby European Southern Observatory's Extremely Large Telescope as well as the Thirty Meter Telescope being built in Hawaii. 4Leopoldo Infante is the head of the Las Campanas observatory. He said the new generation of giant telescopes is being developed to search for life on other planets and look for the origin of dark energy. "It's a race by these three groups for who makes it first and who makes the first discovery," he said. 5Infante said the new large telescope would be able to find molecules in the atmosphere of faraway planets. "And whoever detects life on another planet will win the Nobel Prize, I assure you." 6The other prize is studying dark energy which makes up most of the universe. Infante said dark energy is causing the universe to expand but scientists do not understand its origin. 7Infante said the GMT will help astronomers study and understand "what that energy is and where that energy comes from." 8I'm Dan Novak. 9Reuters reported this story. Dan Novak adapted it for VOA Learning English. Hai Do was the editor. 10_____________________________________ 11Words in This Story 12detect - v. to discover or notice the presence of (something that is hidden or hard to see, hear, taste, etc.) 13origin - n. the point or place where something begins or is created : the source or cause of something 14assure - v. to make something certain