Life Beyond the Solar System: Remotely Detectable Biosignatures
Abstract
For the first time in human history, we will soon be able to apply the scientific method to the question "Are We Alone?" The rapid advance of exoplanet discovery, planetary systems science, and telescope technology will soon allow scientists to search for life beyond our Solar System through direct observation of extrasolar planets. This endeavor will occur alongside searches for habitable environments and signs of life within our Solar System. While the searches are thematically related and will inform each other, they will require separate observational techniques. The search for life on exoplanets holds potential through the great diversity of worlds to be explored beyond our Solar System. However, there are also unique challenges related to the relatively limited data this search will obtain on any individual world. This white paper reviews the scientific community's ability to use data from future telescopes to search for life on exoplanets. This material summarizes products from the Exoplanet Biosignatures Workshop Without Walls (EBWWW). The EBWWW was constituted by a series of online and in person activities, with participation from the international exoplanet and astrobiology communities, to assess state of the science and future research needs for the remote detection of life on planets outside our Solar System.
Cite
@article{arxiv.1801.06714,
title = {Life Beyond the Solar System: Remotely Detectable Biosignatures},
author = {Shawn Domagal-Goldman and Nancy Y. Kiang and Niki Parenteau and David C. Catling and Shiladitya DasSarma and Yuka Fujii and Chester E. Harman and Adrian Lenardic and Enric Pallé and Christopher T. Reinhard and Edward W. Schwieterman and Jean Schneider and Harrison B. Smith and Motohide Tamura and Daniel Angerhausen and Giada Arney and Vladimir S. Airapetian and Natalie M. Batalha and Charles S. Cockell and Leroy Cronin and Russell Deitrick and Anthony Del Genio and Theresa Fisher and Dawn M. Gelino and J. Lee Grenfell and Hilairy E. Hartnett and Siddharth Hegde and Yasunori Hori and Betül Kaçar and Joshua Krissansen-Totten and Timothy Lyons and William B. Moore and Norio Narita and Stephanie L. Olson and Heike Rauer and Tyler D. Robinson and Sarah Rugheimer and Nick Siegler and Evgenya L. Shkolnik and Karl R. Stapelfeldt and Sara Walker},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1801.06714},
year = {2018}
}
Comments
This is a white paper that was submitted to the National Academies of Sciences Study: Astrobiology Science Strategy for the Search for Life in the Universe