Related papers: Photometric Variability in Earthshine Observations
Monitoring the evolution of the anthropogenic light emissions is a priority task in light pollution research. Among the complementary approaches that can be adopted to achieve this goal stand out those based on measuring the direct radiance…
An Earth-like extra-solar planet emits light which is many orders of magnitude fainter than that of the parent star. We propose a method of identifying bio-signature spectral lines in light from known extra-solar planets based on Fourier…
Infrared solar occultation measurements are well established for remote sensing of Earth's atmosphere, and the corresponding primary transit spectroscopy has turned out to be valuable for characterization of extrasolar planets. Our…
Rotational mapping and glint are two proposed methods to directly detect liquid water on the surface of habitable exoplanets. However, false positives for both methods may prevent the unambiguous detection of exoplanet oceans. We use…
Using a simple model based on the characteristics of sunspots and faculae in solar active regions, the effects of surface brightness inhomogeneities on the position of the photocentre of the disk of a solar-like, magnetically active star,…
For the time being, Earth remains the best and only example of a habitable (and inhabited) world. Therefore, it is important to explore and understand the full range of spectral signatures and variability of Earth in order to inform the…
We analyse the detectability of vegetation on a global scale on Earth's surface. Considering its specific reflectance spectrum showing a sharp edge around 700 nm, vegetation can be considered as a potential global biomarker. This work,…
Point source spectrophotometric ("single-point") light curves of Earth-like planets contain a surprising amount of information about the spatial features of those worlds. Spatially resolving these light curves is important for assessing…
Transmission spectroscopy of exoplanets is a tool to characterize rocky planets and explore their habitability. Using the Earth itself as a proxy, we model the atmospheric cross section as a function of wavelength, and show the effect of…
Future high precision photometric measurements of transiting extrasolar planets promise to tell us much about the nature of these systems. We examine how atmospheric lensing and (projected) planet oblateness/ellipticity modify transit light…
The search for Earth-like extrasolar planets is in part motivated by the potential detection of spectroscopic biomarkers. Spectroscopic biomarkers are spectral features that are either consistent with life, indicative of habitability, or…
Understanding reflectance-related quantities for worlds enables effective comparative planetology and strengthens mission planning and execution. Measurements of these properties for Earth, especially its geometric albedo and phase…
Transmission spectroscopy probes exoplanet atmospheres via the wavelength dependence of transit depths, but stellar contamination from magnetic activity can significantly bias these measurements. Activity-induced changes in the chromatic…
Stellar activity is a potential important limitation to the detection of low mass extrasolar planets with indirect methods (RV, photometry, astrometry). In previous papers, using the Sun as a proxy, we investigated the impact of stellar…
Planets reflect and linearly polarize the radiation that they receive from their host stars. The emergent polarization is sensitive to aspects of the planet atmosphere such as the gas composition and the occurrence of condensates and their…
Of the 342 planets discovered so far orbiting other stars, 58 "transit" the stellar disk, meaning that they can be detected by a periodic decrease in the starlight flux. The light from the star passes through the atmosphere of the planet,…
Refraction deflects photons that pass through atmospheres, which affects transit light curves. Refraction thus provides an avenue to probe physical properties of exoplanet atmospheres and to constrain the presence of clouds and hazes. In…
We investigate the spectra of Earth-like planets but with different axial rotation periods. Using the general circulation model of the atmosphere and considering the atmospheric circulation lasting for two years, we calculated the radiation…
We propose to search for biosignatures in the spectra of reflected light from about 100 Earth-sized planets that are already known to be orbiting in their habitable zones (HZ). For a sample of G and K type hosts, most of these planets will…
Substellar companions such as exoplanets and brown dwarfs exhibit changes in brightness arising from top-of-atmosphere inhomogeneities, providing insights into their atmospheric structure and dynamics. This variability can be measured in…