Spectropolarimetric modeling of the Earth as an exoplanet, in search for new habitable worlds

Previous studies have investigated the remote appearance of Earth-like exoplanets in the prospect of retrieving biosignatures of planets orbiting extrasolar stars, utilizing the variation of (polarized) flux. However, these studies did not use horizontally inhomogeneous models that include (1) daily cloud observations of planet Earth accounting...

Reflected signals of extrasolar systems: Detectability of lunar companions

The detection of moons around extrasolar planets is one of the main focuses of current and future observatories. These silent companions contribute to the planets' observed signals but are barely detectable with current methods. Numerous gaseous exoplanets are known to orbit in the habitable zones of stars, and the expected abundance of natural...

Modelling the Circular Polarisation of Earth-like Exoplanets

Circular polarisation is commonly induced through the multiple scattering of light by aerosols in a planetary atmosphere and the multiple reflection of light by a rough surface. More interestingly, light reflected by organisms displays unique spectral circular polarisation behaviour, presenting the possibility of circular polarimetry for the...