Related papers: Bayesian Analysis for Remote Biosignature Identifi…
Recent analysis of the planet K2-18b has shown the presence of water vapour in its atmosphere. While the H2O detection is significant, the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) WFC3 spectrum suggests three possible solutions of very different nature…
The first detected member of a new astronomical class is often not representative of the underlying population, but instead reflects the selection effects of the observing technique that found it. We apply this idea to the first remote…
WASP-39b was observed using several different JWST instrument modes and the spectra were published in a series of papers by the ERS team. The current study examines the information content of these spectra measured using the different…
Understanding the planetary envelope composition of sub-Neptune-type exoplanets is challenging due to the inherent degeneracy in their interior composition scenarios. Particularly, the planetary envelope's H2O/H2 ratio, which can also be…
Modeling molecular absorption by Earth's atmosphere is important for a wide range of astronomical observations, including broadband NIR photometry and high-resolution NIR spectroscopy. Using a line-by-line radiative transfer approach, we…
Directly imaging Earth-like exoplanets (``exoEarths'') with a coronagraph instrument on a space telescope requires a stable wavefront with optical path differences limited to tens of picometers RMS during exposure times of a few hours.…
Oil spill detection has attracted increasing attention in recent years since marine oil spill accidents severely affect environments, natural resources, and the lives of coastal inhabitants. Hyperspectral remote sensing images provide rich…
High-resolution Doppler spectroscopy has been used to detect several chemical species in exoplanetary atmospheres. Such detections have traditionally relied on cross correlation of observed spectra against spectral model templates, an…
The discovery of the near infrared windows into the Venus deep atmosphere has enabled the use of remote sensing techniques to study the composition of the Venus atmosphere below the clouds. In particular, water vapor absorption lines can be…
The upcoming extremely large telescopes will provide the first opportunity to search for signs of habitability and life on non-transiting terrestrial exoplanets using high-contrast, high-resolution instrumentation. However, the suite of…
Future telescopes will survey temperate, terrestrial exoplanets to estimate the frequency of habitable ($\eta_{\text{Hab}}$) or inhabited ($\eta_{\text{Life}}$) planets. This study aims to determine the minimum number of planets ($N$)…
Aims: By performing a detailed radiative transfer analysis, we determine fractional abundances of circumstellar H2O in the envelopes around six M-type asymptotic giant branch stars. The models are also used to predict H2O spectral line…
(Abridged) The existence of an extended neutral hydrogen exosphere around small planets can be used as an evidence for the presence of water in their lower atmosphere but, to date, such feature has not been securely detected in rocky…
Observations of HDO are an important complement for studies of water, because they give strong constraints on the formation processes -- grain surfaces versus energetic process in the gas phase, e.g. in shocks. The HIFI observations of…
Clouds are often considered a highly uncertain barrier for detecting biosignatures on exoplanets, especially given intuition gained from transit surveys. However, for direct imaging reflected light observations, clouds could increase the…
In the past decade, observations from space and ground have found H$_2$O to be the most abundant molecular species, after hydrogen, in the atmospheres of hot, gaseous, extrasolar planets. Being the main molecular carrier of oxygen, H$_2$O…
The atmospheres and surfaces of planets show tremendous amount of spatial variation, which has a direct effect on the spectrum of the object, even if this may not be spatially resolved. Here, we apply hyper realistic radiative simulations…
Atmospheric correction is a fundamental task in remote sensing because observations are taken either of the atmosphere or looking through the atmosphere. Atmospheric correction errors can significantly alter the spectral signature of the…
Thousands of planets beyond our solar system have been discovered to date, dozens of which are rocky in composition and are orbiting within the circumstellar habitable zone of their host star. The next frontier in life detection beyond our…
A primary goal of the Habitable Worlds Observatory (HWO) is to detect and measure the abundance of biosignature molecules, such as water (H2O) and oxygen (O2), in the atmosphere of Earth analogs. This is expected to require deep…