GSU works to detect signs of life across the galaxies in collaboration with international space scientists

Stuart Jefferies first became fascinated with exploring the universe in the late 1980s. A friend brought an eight-inch telescope on their camping trip in Hawaii. From the bottom of Haleakalā Crater, they zoomed in on the sky and saw Saturn.

The Georgia State University professor of physics and astronomy remains curious about outer space and questions whether Earth is the only planet with signs of life. In fact, he believes the probability of the Earth being unique is pretty small compared to other galaxies. 

Jefferies, along with GSU students and international space scientists, have taken up the challenge to find lifeforms across the two trillion galaxies and possibly beyond. They’re now working to construct a 50-meter telescope on The Canary Islands. The ELF telescope, which stands for ExoPlanet Life Finder, will be able to study other star systems from 30 million light years away. That’s 176,358,761,195,508,231,926 miles from our blue planet. The telescope will incorporate advanced technologies and have 15 mirrors of 0.5 meters in diameter.