DK

D. Klindzic

3 records found

LOUPE: Observing Earth from the Moon to prepare for detecting life on Earth-like exoplanets

Observing Earth from the Moon to prepare for detecting life on Earth-like exoplanets: LOUPE: Observing Earth from the Moon

LOUPE, the Lunar Observatory for Unresolved Polarimetry of the Earth, is a small, robust spectro-polarimeter for observing the Earth as an exoplanet. Detecting Earth-like planets in stellar habitable zones is one of the key challenges of modern exoplanetary science. Characterizin ...

Pale polarized dots

Spectropolarimetry of the Earth as an exoplanet with LOUPE

We present LOUPE, the Lunar Observatory for Unresolved Polarimetry of the Earth, a compact snapshot spectropolarimeter designed to observe the Earth from the Moon as if it were an exoplanet. Viewing the Earth as it would be seen by a faraway observer will offer novel insight into ...
Many biologically produced chiral molecules such as amino acids and sugars show a preference for left or right handedness (homochirality). Light reflected by biological materials such as algae and leaves therefore exhibits a small amount of circular polarization that strongly dep ...