There’s another study to help out in determining the chemical fingerprints of exoplanets. In new research published in Frontiers in Astronomy and Space Sciences, a team of scientists explained how they used computer algorithms to identify the spectral signatures of almost a thousand molecules containing phosphorus. That catalog can now be used to compare future findings and make the identification of atmospheric molecules far easier.

So why phosphorus when I’ve been talking about oxygen all this time? Well, first, there was that whole kerfuffle from last year about detecting phosphine on Venus. The back and forth that played out in the journal was definitely an impetus for this particular modeling project. But also, phosphorus is essential for life, again, as far as we know it. And phosphine was the only molecule we knew how to detect. Now we have 957 other molecules that could maybe, just maybe, indicate life.

Dr. Laura McKemmish of the University of New South Wales, which led the research, explains: Though this new dataset doesn’t yet have the accuracy to enable new detections, it can help prevent misassignments by highlighting the potential for multiple molecular species having similar spectral barcodes – for example, at low resolution with some telescopes, water, and alcohol could be indistinguishable. The data can also be used to rank how easy a molecule is to detect.

Take that phosphine! We’re coming for you. You and 957 of your best friends as well as oxygen and carbon dioxide and water and… well, you get the idea.

More Information

UNSW Sydney press release

“Computational Infrared Spectroscopy of 958 Phosphorus-Bearing Molecules,” Juan C. Zapata Trujillo et al., 2021 April 8, Frontiers in Astronomy and Space Sciences