Bibcode
Pallé, E.; Zapatero Osorio, M. R.; García-Muñoz, A.
Referencia bibliográfica
The Astrophysical Journal, Volume 728, Issue 1, article id. 19 (2011).
Advertised on:
2
2011
Revista
Número de citas
23
Número de citas referidas
20
Descripción
Visible and near-infrared spectra of transiting hot Jupiter planets have
recently been observed, revealing some of the atmospheric constituents
of their atmospheres. In the near future, it is probable that primary
and secondary eclipse observations of Earth-like rocky planets will also
be achieved. The characterization of Earth's transmission spectrum has
shown that both major and trace atmospheric constituents may present
strong absorption features, including important bio-markers such as
water, oxygen, and methane. Our simulations using a recently published
empirical Earth's transmission spectrum, and the stellar spectra for a
variety of stellar types, indicate that the new generation of extremely
large telescopes, such as the proposed 42 m European Extremely Large
Telescope, could be capable of retrieving the transmission spectrum of
an Earth-like planet around very cool stars and brown dwarfs (T
eff <= ~3100 K). For a twin of Earth around a star with T
eff ~ 3100 K (M4), for example, the spectral features of
H2O, CH4, CO2, and O2 in the
wavelength range between 0.9 and 2.4 μm can simultaneously be
detected within 100 hr of observing time, or even less for a late-M
star. Such detection would constitute proof for the existence of life in
that planet. The detection time can be reduced to a few hours for a
super-Earth type of planet with twice Earth's radius.