Quick search Find article
Quick search
Find article

CHARACTERIZING HABITABLE EXOMOONS

FREE ISSUE

L. Kaltenegger

Show affiliations


We discuss the possibility of screening the atmosphere of exomoons for habitability. We concentrate on Earth-like satellites of extrasolar giant planets (EGPs) that orbit in the Habitable Zone (HZ) of their host stars. The detectability of exomoons for EGPs in the HZ has recently been shown to be feasible with the Kepler Mission or equivalent photometry using transit duration observations. Transmission spectroscopy of exomoons is a unique potential tool to screen them for habitability in the near future, especially around low mass stars. Using the Earth itself as a proxy we show the potential and limits of spectroscopy to detect biomarkers on an Earth-like exomoon and discuss effects of tidal locking for such potential habitats.


Keywords

astrobiology; atmospheric effects; Earth; eclipses; occultations; techniques: spectroscopic


Dates

Issue 2 (2010 April 1)

Received 2009 December 10, accepted for publication 2010 February 11

Published 2010 March 9



View by subject




Export








Please login to access our web services, or create an account if you don't yet have one.

You must have cookies enabled in your web browser to be able to login.

Username
Password

Forgotten your password? Get a new one here.