Future observations of terrestrial exoplanet atmospheres will occur for planets at different stages of geological evolution. We expect to observe a wide variety of atmospheres and planets with ...alternative evolutionary paths, with some planets resembling Earth at different epochs. For an Earth-like atmospheric time trajectory, we simulate planets from the prebiotic to the current atmosphere based on geological data. We use a stellar grid F0V to M8V ( -2400 K) to model four geological epochs of Earth's history corresponding to a prebiotic world (3.9 Ga), the rise of oxygen at 2.0 Ga and at 0.8 Ga, and the modern Earth. We show the VIS-IR spectral features, with a focus on biosignatures through geological time for this grid of Sun-like host stars and the effect of clouds on their spectra. We find that the observability of biosignature gases reduces with increasing cloud cover and increases with planetary age. The observability of the visible O2 feature for lower concentrations will partly depend on clouds, which, while slightly reducing the feature, increase the overall reflectivity, and thus the detectable flux of a planet. The depth of the IR ozone feature contributes substantially to the opacity at lower oxygen concentrations, especially for the high near-UV stellar environments around F stars. Our results are a grid of model spectra for atmospheres representative of Earth's geological history to inform future observations and instrument design and are available online at http://carlsaganinstitute.org/data/.
ABSTRACT We model the atmospheres and spectra of Earth-like planets orbiting the entire grid of M dwarfs for active and inactive stellar models with Teff = 2300 K to Teff = 3800 K and for six ...observed MUSCLES M dwarfs with UV radiation data. We set the Earth-like planets at the 1 AU equivalent distance and show spectra from the visible to IR (0.4-20 m) to compare detectability of features in different wavelength ranges with the James Webb Space Telescope and other future ground- and spaced-based missions to characterize exo-Earths. We focus on the effect of UV activity levels on detectable atmospheric features that indicate habitability on Earth, namely, H2O, O3, CH4, N2O, and CH3Cl. To observe signatures of life-O2/O3 in combination with reducing species like CH4-we find that early and active M dwarfs are the best targets of the M star grid for future telescopes. The O2 spectral feature at 0.76 m is increasingly difficult to detect in reflected light of later M dwarfs owing to low stellar flux in that wavelength region. N2O, another biosignature detectable in the IR, builds up to observable concentrations in our planetary models around M dwarfs with low UV flux. CH3Cl could become detectable, depending on the depth of the overlapping N2O feature. We present a spectral database of Earth-like planets around cool stars for directly imaged planets as a framework for interpreting future light curves, direct imaging, and secondary eclipse measurements of the atmospheres of terrestrial planets in the habitable zone to design and assess future telescope capabilities.
Abstract
The search for biosignatures on exoplanets connects the fields of biology and biochemistry to astronomical observation, with the hope that we might detect evidence of active biological ...processes on worlds outside the solar system. Here we focus on a complementary aspect of exoplanet characterization connecting astronomy to prebiotic chemistry: the search for molecules associated with the origin of life, prebiosignatures. Prebiosignature surveys in planetary atmospheres offer the potential to both constrain the ubiquity of life in the galaxy and provide important tests of current prebiotic syntheses outside of the laboratory setting. Here, we quantify the minimum abundance of identified prebiosignature molecules that would be required for detection by transmission spectroscopy using JWST. We consider prebiosignatures on five classes of terrestrial planets: an ocean planet, a volcanic planet, a post-impact planet, a super-Earth, and an early-Earth analog. Using a novel modeling and detection test pipeline, with simulated JWST noise, we find the detection thresholds of hydrogen cyanide (
HCN
), hydrogen sulfide (H
2
S), cyanoacetylene (HC
3
N), ammonia (NH
3
), methane (CH
4
), acetylene (C
2
H
2
), sulfur dioxide (SO
2
), nitric oxide (NO), formaldehyde (CH
2
O), and carbon monoxide (CO) in a variety of low-mean-molecular-weight (<5) atmospheres. We test the dependence of these detection thresholds on an M dwarf target star and the number of observed transits, finding that a modest number of transits (1–10) are required to detect prebiosignatures in numerous candidate planets, including TRAPPIST-1e with a high-mean-molecular-weight atmosphere. We find that the Near Infrared Spectrograph G395M/H instrument is best suited for detecting most prebiosignatures.
Abstract
The search for life in the Universe is a fundamental problem of astrobiology and modern science. The current progress in the detection of terrestrial-type exoplanets has opened a new avenue ...in the characterization of exoplanetary atmospheres and in the search for biosignatures of life with the upcoming ground-based and space missions. To specify the conditions favourable for the origin, development and sustainment of life as we know it in other worlds, we need to understand the nature of global (astrospheric), and local (atmospheric and surface) environments of exoplanets in the habitable zones (HZs) around G-K-M dwarf stars including our young Sun. Global environment is formed by propagated disturbances from the planet-hosting stars in the form of stellar flares, coronal mass ejections, energetic particles and winds collectively known as astrospheric space weather. Its characterization will help in understanding how an exoplanetary ecosystem interacts with its host star, as well as in the specification of the physical, chemical and biochemical conditions that can create favourable and/or detrimental conditions for planetary climate and habitability along with evolution of planetary internal dynamics over geological timescales. A key linkage of (astro)physical, chemical and geological processes can only be understood in the framework of interdisciplinary studies with the incorporation of progress in heliophysics, astrophysics, planetary and Earth sciences. The assessment of the impacts of host stars on the climate and habitability of terrestrial (exo)planets will significantly expand the current definition of the HZ to the biogenic zone and provide new observational strategies for searching for signatures of life. The major goal of this paper is to describe and discuss the current status and recent progress in this interdisciplinary field in light of presentations and discussions during the NASA Nexus for Exoplanetary System Science funded workshop ‘Exoplanetary Space Weather, Climate and Habitability’ and to provide a new roadmap for the future development of the emerging field of exoplanetary science and astrobiology.
ABSTRACT
The Great Oxidation Event was a period during which Earth’s atmospheric oxygen (O2) concentrations increased from ∼10−5 times its present atmospheric level (PAL) to near modern levels, ...marking the start of the Proterozoic geological eon 2.4 billion years ago. Using WACCM6, an Earth System Model, we simulate the atmosphere of Earth-analogue exoplanets with O2 mixing ratios between 0.1 and 150 per cent PAL. Using these simulations, we calculate the reflection spectra over multiple orbits using the Planetary Spectrum Generator. We highlight how observer angle, albedo, chemistry, and clouds affect the simulated observations. We show that inter-annual climate variations, as well short-term variations due to clouds, can be observed in our simulated atmospheres with a telescope concept such as LUVOIR or HabEx. Annual variability and seasonal variability can change the planet’s reflected flux (including the reflected flux of key spectral features such as O2 and H2O) by up to factors of 5 and 20, respectively, for the same orbital phase. This variability is best observed with a high-throughput coronagraph. For example, HabEx (4 m) with a starshade performs up to a factor of two times better than a LUVOIR B (6 m) style telescope. The variability and signal-to-noise ratio of some spectral features depends non-linearly on atmospheric O2 concentration. This is caused by temperature and chemical column depth variations, as well as generally increased liquid and ice cloud content for atmospheres with O2 concentrations of <1 per cent PAL.
Planets composed of large quantities of water that reside in the habitable zone are expected to have distinct geophysics and geochemistry of their surfaces and atmospheres. We explore these ...properties motivated by two key questions: whether such planets could provide habitable conditions and whether they exhibit discernable spectral features that distinguish a water-planet from a rocky Earth-like planet. We show that the recently discovered planets Kepler-62e and -62f are the first viable candidates for habitable zone water-planets. We use these planets as test cases for discussing those differences in detail. We generate atmospheric spectral models and find that potentially habitable water-planets show a distinctive spectral fingerprint in transit depending on their position in the habitable zone.
Solar radiation and geological processes over the first few million years of Earth’s history, followed soon thereafter by the origin of life, steered our planet towards an evolutionary trajectory of ...long-lived habitability that ultimately enabled the emergence of complex life. We review the most important conditions and feedbacks over the first 2 billion years of this trajectory, which perhaps represent the best analogue for other habitable worlds in the galaxy. Crucial aspects included: (1) the redox state and volatile content of Earth’s building blocks, which determined the longevity of the magma ocean and its ability to degas H
2
O and other greenhouse gases, in particular CO
2
, allowing the condensation of a water ocean; (2) the chemical properties of the resulting degassed mantle, including oxygen fugacity, which would have not only affected its physical properties and thus its ability to recycle volatiles and nutrients via plate tectonics, but also contributed to the timescale of atmospheric oxygenation; (3) the emergence of life, in particular the origin of autotrophy, biological N
2
fixation, and oxygenic photosynthesis, which accelerated sluggish abiotic processes of transferring some volatiles back into the lithosphere; (4) strong stellar UV radiation on the early Earth, which may have eroded significant amounts of atmospheric volatiles, depending on atmospheric CO
2
/N
2
ratios and thus impacted the redox state of the mantle as well as the timing of life’s origin; and (5) evidence of strong photochemical effects on Earth’s sulfur cycle, preserved in the form of mass-independent sulfur isotope fractionation, and potentially linked to fractionation in organic carbon isotopes. The early Earth presents itself as an exoplanet analogue that can be explored through the existing rock record, allowing us to identify atmospheric signatures diagnostic of biological metabolisms that may be detectable on other inhabited planets with next-generation telescopes. We conclude that investigating the development of habitable conditions on terrestrial planets, an inherently complex problem, requires multi-disciplinary collaboration and creative solutions.
Reconstructing a record of the partial pressure of molecular oxygen in Earth's atmosphere is key for understanding macroevolutionary and environmental change over geological history. Recently, the ...oxidation state of iron in micrometeorites has been taken to imply the presence of modern Earth concentrations of oxygen in the upper atmosphere at 2.7 Ga, and therefore a highly chemically stratified atmosphere (Tomkins
., 2016). We here explore the possibility that the mixing ratio of oxygen in Earth's upper atmosphere, that probed by micrometeorites, may instead be sensitive to the surface atmospheric pressure. We find that the concentrations of oxygen in the upper atmosphere required for micrometeorite oxidation are achieved for a 0.3 bar atmosphere. In this case, significant water vapour reaches high up in the atmosphere and is photodissociated, leading to the formation of molecular oxygen. The presence of oxidised iron in micrometeorites at 2.7 Ga may therefore be further evidence that the atmospheric pressure at the surface of the early Earth was substantially lower than it is today.
The GJ 357 system harbors three planets orbiting a bright, nearby M2.5V star at 9.44 pc. The innermost planet, GJ 357b (TOI-562.01), is a hot transiting Earth-sized planet with Earth-like density, ...which receives about 12 times the irradiation Earth receives from the Sun, and was detected using data from TESS. Radial velocities discovered two more planets in the system at 9.12 (GJ 357 c) and 55.6 days (GJ 357 d), with minimum masses of 3.59 0.50 and 6.1 1 Earth masses, and an irradiation of 4.4 and 0.38 Earth's irradiation, respectively. GJ 357 d receives slightly less stellar irradiation than Mars does in our own solar system, which puts it in the Habitable Zone (HZ) for its host star. GJ 357 d could not have been detected with TESS and whether it transits remains an open question. Here we model possible conditions within which GJ357 d could sustain surface habitability and present planetary models as well as synthetic transmission, reflection, and emission spectra for a range of models for GJ 357 d from water worlds to Earth-like models. With Earth-analog outgassing rates, GJ 357 d would be a frozen rocky world; however, with an increased CO2 level, as would be expected if a geological cycles regulates CO2 concentration like on Earth, the planet models show temperate surface conditions. If we can detect a transit of GJ 357 d, it would become the closest transiting, potentially habitable planet in the solar neighborhood. Even if GJ 357 d does not transit, the brightness of its star makes this planet, in the HZ of a close-by M star, a prime target for observations with Extremely Large telescopes as well as future space missions.
Hydrogen cyanide (HCN) is a key feedstock molecule for the production of life's building blocks. The formation of HCN in an N2-rich atmospheres requires first that the triple bond between N≡N be ...severed, and then that the atomic nitrogen find a carbon atom. These two tasks can be accomplished via photochemistry, lightning, impacts, or volcanism. The key requirements for producing appreciable amounts of HCN are the free availability of N2 and a local carbon to oxygen ratio of C/O ≥ 1. We discuss the chemical mechanisms by which HCN can be formed and destroyed on rocky exoplanets with Earth-like N2 content and surface water inventories, varying the oxidation state of the dominant carbon-containing atmospheric species. HCN is most readily produced in an atmosphere rich in methane (CH4) or acetylene (C2H2), but can also be produced in significant amounts (>1 ppm) within CO-dominated atmospheres. Methane is not necessary for the production of HCN. We show how destruction of HCN in a CO2-rich atmosphere depends critically on the poorly-constrained energetic barrier for the reaction of HCN with atomic oxygen. We discuss the implications of our results for detecting photochemically produced HCN, for concentrating HCN on the planet's surface, and its importance for prebiotic chemistry.
•HCN can be formed in an N2 dominated atmosphere with water at vapor pressure.•Formation can occur via lightning shocks, impacts, and UV photochemistry.•Atmospheric abundance of HCN depends critically on the C/O ratio.•Tropospheric HCN is affected by the barrier to its reacting with atomic oxygen.
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