Chasing rainbows and ocean glints: Inner working angle constraints for the Habitable Worlds Observatory

NASA is engaged in planning for a Habitable Worlds Observatory (HabWorlds), a coronagraphic space mission to detect rocky planets in habitable zones and establish their habitability. Surface liquid water is central to the definition of planetary habitability. Photometric and polarimetric phase curves of starlight reflected by an exoplanet can...

Ocean signatures in the total flux and polarization spectra of Earth-like exoplanets

ontext. Numerical simulations of starlight that is reflected by Earth-like exoplanets predict habitability signatures that can be searched for with future telescopes.<br/><br/>Aims. We explore signatures of water oceans in the flux and polarization spectra of this reflected light.<br/><br/>Methods. With an adding-doubling algorithm, we computed...

Colors of an Earth-like exoplanet: Temporal flux and polarization signals of the Earth

Context. Understanding the total flux and polarization signals of Earth-like planets and their spectral and temporal variability is essential for the future characterization of such exoplanets. Aims. We provide computed total (F) and linearly (Q and U) and circularly (V) polarized fluxes, and the degree of polarization P of sunlight that is...