Habitable exoplanets detection: overview of challenges and current state-of-the-art [Invited]

Guyon, Olivier

doi:10.1364/oe.25.028825

Cited by 2 publications

(1 citation statement)

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“…As the research outlined above progresses, so will understanding of planets from ongoing exoplanet observations, which will continue to improve as new observational capabilities come online. A recent review by Guyon ( 2017 ) provides a concise catalogue of observational techniques to detect exoplanets: transit photometry, microlensing, radial velocity, astrometry, interferometry, and coronagraphy. Fujii et al ( 2018 in this issue) extend this further, giving weight to the techniques to characterize the internal properties of potentially habitable planets, that is, not only their sizes and orbits but also their atmospheres and surfaces, which are necessary for detection and evaluation of biosignature candidates.…”

Section: Observational Technology: Capabilities In the Near Futurementioning

confidence: 99%

Exoplanet Biosignatures: At the Dawn of a New Era of Planetary Observations

et al. 2018

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The rapid rate of discoveries of exoplanets has expanded the scope of the science possible for the remote detection of life beyond Earth. The Exoplanet Biosignatures Workshop Without Walls (EBWWW) held in 2016 engaged the international scientific community across diverse scientific disciplines, to assess the state of the science and technology in the search for life on exoplanets, and to identify paths for progress. The workshop activities resulted in five major review papers, which provide (1) an encyclopedic review of known and proposed biosignatures and models used to ascertain them (Schwieterman et al., 2018 in this issue); (2) an in-depth review of O2 as a biosignature, rigorously examining the nuances of false positives and false negatives for evidence of life (Meadows et al., 2018 in this issue); (3) a Bayesian framework to comprehensively organize current understanding to quantify confidence in biosignature assessments (Catling et al., 2018 in this issue); (4) an extension of that Bayesian framework in anticipation of increasing planetary data and novel concepts of biosignatures (Walker et al., 2018 in this issue); and (5) a review of the upcoming telescope capabilities to characterize exoplanets and their environment (Fujii et al., 2018 in this issue). Because of the immense content of these review papers, this summary provides a guide to their complementary scope and highlights salient features. Strong themes that emerged from the workshop were that biosignatures must be interpreted in the context of their environment, and that frameworks must be developed to link diverse forms of scientific understanding of that context to quantify the likelihood that a biosignature has been observed. Models are needed to explore the parameter space where measurements will be widespread but sparse in detail. Given the technological prospects for large ground-based telescopes and space-based observatories, the detection of atmospheric signatures of a few potentially habitable planets may come before 2030. Key Words: Exoplanets—Biosignatures—Remote observation—Spectral imaging—Bayesian analysis. Astrobiology 18, 619–626.

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Section: Observational Technology: Capabilities In the Near Futurementioning

confidence: 99%