A Fingerprint of Earth From Space

Scientists have developed a fingerprint of Earth from space that could one day help identify other habitable worlds light-years from our own. From a report: If researchers find a planet that matched Earth's fingerprint -- which shows what Earth would look like in infrared if seen by an alien civilization -- out there in the universe, it could indicate they've found a habitable world. The fingerprint -- detailed in a new study published in the journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society -- was created by using data collected by the Atmospheric Chemistry Experiment onboard the SCISAT satellite. That data specifically looks at the composition of Earth's atmosphere as sunlight passes through it, revealing methane, ozone and other molecules that could indicate life.