Subscribe free to our newsletters via your
. 24/7 Space News .




EXO LIFE
VLT rediscovers life on Earth By looking at the moon
by Staff Writers
Munich, Germany (SPX) Mar 02, 2012


This view shows the thin crescent moon setting over ESO's Paranal Observatory in Chile. As well as the bright crescent the rest of the disc of the Moon can be faintly seen. This phenomenon is called earthshine. It is due to sunlight reflecting off the Earth and illuminating the lunar surface. By observing earthshine astronomers can study the properties of light reflected from Earth as if it were an exoplanet and search for signs of life. This picture was taken on Oct. 27, 2011, and also records the planets Mercury and Venus. Credit: ESO/B. Tafreshi/TWAN (twanight.org)

"We used a trick called earthshine observation to look at the Earth as if it were an exoplanet," says Michael Sterzik (ESO), lead author of the paper. "The Sun shines on the Earth and this light is reflected back to the surface of the Moon. The lunar surface acts as a giant mirror and reflects the Earth's light back to us - and this is what we have observed with the VLT."

The astronomers analyse the faint earthshine light to look for indicators, such as certain combinations of gases in the Earth's atmosphere, that are the telltale signs of organic life. This method establishes the Earth as a benchmark for the future search for life on planets beyond our Solar System.

The fingerprints of life, or biosignatures, are hard to find with conventional methods, but the team has pioneered a new approach that is more sensitive.

Rather than just looking at how bright the reflected light is in different colours, they also look at the polarisation of the light, an approach called spectropolarimetry. By applying this technique to earthshine observed with the VLT, the biosignatures in the reflected light from Earth show up very strongly.

Co-author of the study Stefano Bagnulo (Armagh Observatory, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom) explains the advantages: "The light from a distant exoplanet is overwhelmed by the glare of the host star, so it's very difficult to analyse - a bit like trying to study a grain of dust beside a powerful light bulb.

"But the light reflected by a planet is polarised, while the light from the host star is not. So polarimetric techniques help us to pick out the faint reflected light of an exoplanet from the dazzling starlight."

The team studied both the colour and the degree of polarisation of light from the Earth after reflection from the Moon, as if the light was coming from an exoplanet.

They managed to deduce that the Earth's atmosphere is partly cloudy, that part of its surface is covered by oceans and - crucially - that there is vegetation present. They could even detect changes in the cloud cover and amount of vegetation at different times as different parts of the Earth reflected light towards the Moon.

"Finding life outside the Solar System depends on two things: whether this life exists in the first place, and having the technical capability to detect it," adds co-author Enric Palle (Instituto de Astrofisica de Canarias, Tenerife, Spain). "This work is an important step towards reaching that capability."

"Spectropolarimetry may ultimately tell us if simple plant life - based on photosynthetic processes - has emerged elsewhere in the Universe," concludes Sterzik. "But we are certainly not looking for little green men or evidence of intelligent life."

The next generation of telescopes, such as the E-ELT (the European Extremely Large Telescope), may well be able to bring us the extraordinary news that the Earth is not alone as a bearer of life in the vastness of space.

Nature paper

.


Related Links
ESO
Life Beyond Earth
Lands Beyond Beyond - extra solar planets - news and science






Comment on this article via your Facebook, Yahoo, AOL, Hotmail login.

Share this article via these popular social media networks
del.icio.usdel.icio.us DiggDigg RedditReddit GoogleGoogle








EXO LIFE
Microbial oasis discovered beneath the Atacama Desert
Madrid, Spain (SPX) Feb 17, 2012
Two metres below the surface of the Atacama Desert there is an 'oasis' of microorganisms. Researchers from the Center of Astrobiology (Spain) and the Catholic University of the North in Chile have found it in hypersaline substrates thanks to SOLID, a detector for signs of life which could be used in environments similar to subsoil on Mars. Life is bustling under the driest desert on Earth. ... read more


EXO LIFE
Scientists Shed Light On Lunar Impact History

China paces to the Moon

SD-built camera spots tiny shifts on moon

Back to the Moon A Modern Redux

EXO LIFE
Slight Cleaning of Opportunity Mars Rover Solar Panels

Surface of Mars an unlikely place for life after 600 million year drought

Camera on NASA Mars Odyssey Tops Decade of Discovery

Proposed Mars Mission Has New Name

EXO LIFE
Space station on another planet suggested

Wish for city of the future takes shape at TED

TED titans see through eyes of young innovators

Technology and creativity go "full spectrum" at TED

EXO LIFE
Launch of China's manned spacecraft Shenzhou-9 scheduled

Shenzhou 9 To Carry 3 Astronauts To Tiangong-1 Space Station

China to launch spacecraft in June: report

Is Shenzhou Unsafe?

EXO LIFE
Laptop theft did not put space station in peril: NASA

ATV-3 set to provide ESA's annual service to ISS

Andre On A PromISSe For Extended Space Station Mission

ISS Orbit Adjusted for Docking

EXO LIFE
The initial Ariane 5 for launch in 2012 completes its final assembly

Arianespace maintains its open dialog with the space insurance sector

SwRI and XCOR agree to pioneering research test flight missions

Rocket launches from Poker Flat Research Range

EXO LIFE
Researchers say galaxy may swarm with 'nomad planets'

New model provides different take on planetary accretion

A Planetary Exo-splosion

Extending the Habitable Zone for Red Dwarf Stars

EXO LIFE
$35 computer goes on sale in Britain

Exotic material boosts electromagnetism safely

The laws of attraction: Making magnetic yeast

VTT scientists revise the 60-year-old definition of surface tension on solids




The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2014 - Space Media Network. AFP, UPI and IANS news wire stories are copyright Agence France-Presse, United Press International and Indo-Asia News Service. ESA Portal Reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement,agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space Media Network on any Web page published or hosted by Space Media Network. Privacy Statement