Related papers: Atmospheric O2 from astronomical data
The determination of chemical abundances from stellar spectra is considered a mature field of astrophysics. Digital spectra of stars are recorded and processed with standard techniques, much like samples in the biological sciences.…
Molecular oxygen (O2) will be an important molecule in the search for biosignatures in terrestrial planetary atmospheres in the coming decades. In particular, O2 combined with a reducing gas is thought to be strong evidence for…
The absorption of light by molecules in the atmosphere of Earth is a complication for ground-based observations of astrophysical objects. Comprehensive information on various molecular species is required to correct for this so called…
Direct imaging spectroscopy with future space-based telescopes will constrain terrestrial planet atmospheric composition and potentially detect biosignature gases. One promising indication of life is abundant atmospheric O2. However,…
Oxygen is the third most abundant element in the universe, but its chemistry in the interstellar medium is still not well understood. In order to critically examine the entire oxygen budget, we attempt here initially to estimate the…
Satellite-based estimates of greenhouse gas (GHG) properties from observations of reflected solar spectra are integral for understanding and monitoring complex terrestrial systems and their impact on the carbon cycle due to their near…
Exoplanetary atmospheric retrieval refers to the inference of atmospheric properties of an exoplanet given an observed spectrum. The atmospheric properties include the chemical compositions, temperature profiles, clouds/hazes, and energy…
Atmospheric spectroscopy provides a window into the properties of exoplanets. However, the physical interpretation of retrieved data and its implications for the internal properties of exoplanets remains nebulous. This letter addresses…
Understanding a planet's atmosphere is a necessary condition for understanding not only the planet itself, but also its formation, structure, evolution, and habitability, This puts a premium on obtaining spectra, and developing credible…
This paper considers environmental problems of natural and anthropogenic atmospheric aerosol pollution and its global and regional monitoring. Efficient aerosol investigations may be achieved by spectropolarimetric measurements.…
Studying the atmospheres of exoplanets is one of the most promising ways to learn about distant worlds beyond our solar system. The composition of an exoplanet's atmosphere can provide critical insights into its geology and potential…
Accurately measuring the masses of white dwarf stars is crucial in many astrophysical contexts (e.g., asteroseismology and cosmochronology). These masses are most commonly determined by fitting a model atmosphere to an observed spectrum;…
While optical and quantum efficiency are on the rise, and spectrographs becoming massively multiplexed, measuring spectral energy distributions of astronomical sources with accuracy remains a challenge. In addition to atmospheric…
In the near future, extremely-large ground-based telescopes may conduct some of the first searches for life beyond the solar system. High-spectral resolution observations of reflected light from nearby exoplanetary atmospheres could be used…
The polarization state of starlight reflected by a planetary atmosphere uniquely reveals coverage, particle size, and composition of aerosols as well as changing cloud patterns. It is not possible to obtain a comparable level of detailed…
We present the result of calculations to optimize the search for molecular oxygen (O2) in Earth analogs transiting around nearby, low-mass stars using ground-based, high-resolution, Doppler shift techniques. We investigate a series of…
Molecular oxygen, O2 has been expected historically to be an abundant component of the chemical species in molecular clouds and, as such, an important coolant of the dense interstellar medium. However, a number of attempts from both ground…
Using forward models for representative exoplanet atmospheres and a radiometric instrument model, we have generated synthetic observational data to explore how well the major C- and O-bearing chemical species (CO, CO2, CH4, and H2O),…
The combination of photometry, spectroscopy and spectropolarimetry of the chemically peculiar stars often aims to study the complex physical phenomena such as stellar pulsation, chemical inhomogeneity, magnetic field and their interplay…
Carbon Dioxide (CO2) is one of the most important greenhouse gases after water vapor (H2O) which plays significant role in the climate process. Accurate space-based measurement of CO2 is of great significance in inferring the location of…