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Old 22-December-2004, 09:22 PM
tofu tofu is offline
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Default Finding an Extrasolar Planet with O2

Will any of the optical interferometers currently under construction be sensitive enough to detect free O2 in the spectrum of light reflected from an extra-solar planet?
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Old 23-December-2004, 02:11 AM
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ngc3314 ngc3314 is online now
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Default Re: Finding an Extrasolar Planet with O2

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Originally Posted by tofu
Will any of the optical interferometers currently under construction be sensitive enough to detect free O2 in the spectrum of light reflected from an extra-solar planet?
The interferometer half of what are currently two Terrestrial Planet Finder (TPF) missions should be able to look for broad IR absorption from O2, as a practically automatic by-product of the spectral slicing needed for high-sensitivity interferometry - see http://planetquest.jpl.nasa.gov/TPF/tpf_book/index.cfm.
The other TPF mission now on the list is a single-aperture instrument with a shaped pupil mask which, if the primary mirror can be made smooth enough, would yield very high-quality coronagraphy and offer the chance for optical imaging strictly by reflected starlight (rather than in a spectral region where the thermal emission from the surface matters, as for the current multi-element interferometer designs).
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