Review on habitability and biomarkers

L. Kaltenegger, M. Fridlund, J. Kasting

Research output: Contribution to journalConference articlepeer-review

10 Scopus citations

Abstract

The detection of O2 or its product O3 is our most reliable biomarker so far. The existence of H2O in liquid state on the surface of a planet is considered essential for the development of life; even so, it is not a bioindicator. CO2 indicates an atmosphere, and abundant CH4 can indicate biological sources, although depending on the degree of oxidation of a planet's crust and upper mantle non-biological sources could also produce large amounts of CH4. In the thermal part of the spectrum, the shape gives a measure of the temperature of the object examined. The mid-IR spectra can determine the planet's albedo, the temperature of the observable emitting regions and thus the planet's size. Visible to near-IR spectra offer higher spatial resolution for the same collecting area, are minimally affected by temperature and therefore able to determine the abundance of atmospheric species. However the visible/near-IR continuum does not give direct indication of the planet size because of the possible albedo range.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)277-282
Number of pages6
JournalEuropean Space Agency, (Special Publication) ESA SP
Issue number514
StatePublished - Oct 2002
EventProceedings of the 36th ESLAB Symposium; Earth-Like Planets and Moons - Noordwijk, Netherlands
Duration: Jun 3 2002Jun 8 2002

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • Aerospace Engineering
  • Space and Planetary Science

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