Green aliens? Maybe they are more purple

About the episode

What we would like to know: If there is life on other planets, what does it look like? We now see more creative depictions of aliens in films, for example, compared to the green figures that have been around for a long time, but they remain a static image.

Now there are a number of astronomers who have shown in a new study that purple may be the color we should be looking for. They think this is because purple bacteria, which were also present in large numbers on early Earth, would be excellent candidates for life on distant planets.

Bacteria work well in many different conditions. Microorganisms use a purple molecule to convert sunlight into energy. It should be possible to observe this from Earth using the new generation of telescopes.

Because organisms that convert energy using green molecules – such as plants and algae – have become prevalent on Earth and we know a lot about them, this is also what has been researched a lot. But these scientists like to add some color to it.

They have now selected the chemical fingerprint of the purple bacteria as precisely as possible, so we can add it to the research list.

Read more about the research here: Sorry, little green men: alien life may actually be purple