Clouds Can Enhance Direct-imaging Detection of O2 and O3 on Terrestrial Exoplanets
Clouds are often considered a highly uncertain barrier for detecting biosignatures on exoplanets, especially given intuition gained from transit surveys. However, for direct-imaging reflected light observations, clouds could increase the observational signal by increasing reflected light. Here we co...
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IOP Publishing
2025-01-01
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| Series: | The Astrophysical Journal |
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| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/add46b |
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| author | Huanzhou Yang Michelle Hu Dorian S. Abbot |
| author_facet | Huanzhou Yang Michelle Hu Dorian S. Abbot |
| author_sort | Huanzhou Yang |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Clouds are often considered a highly uncertain barrier for detecting biosignatures on exoplanets, especially given intuition gained from transit surveys. However, for direct-imaging reflected light observations, clouds could increase the observational signal by increasing reflected light. Here we constrain the impact of clouds on the detection of O _2 and O _3 by a direct-imaging telescope such as the Habitable Worlds Observatory (HWO) using observations simulated with the Planetary Spectrum Generator (PSG). We first perform sensitivity tests to show that low clouds enhance O _2 and O _3 detectability while high clouds diminish it, and the effect is greater when cloud particles are smaller. We next apply clouds produced by the cloud microphysics model Community Aerosol and Radiation Model for Atmospheres with varied planetary parameters and clouds drawn from observations of different types of clouds on Earth to PSG. We find that clouds are likely to increase the signal-to-noise ratio of O _2 and O _3 for terrestrial exoplanets under a wide range of scenarios. This work provides important constraints on the impact of clouds on observations by telescopes including HWO. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-e13f591672b944d2b3345c4c848fe6d9 |
| institution | OA Journals |
| issn | 1538-4357 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-01-01 |
| publisher | IOP Publishing |
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| series | The Astrophysical Journal |
| spelling | doaj-art-e13f591672b944d2b3345c4c848fe6d92025-08-20T02:35:48ZengIOP PublishingThe Astrophysical Journal1538-43572025-01-01986220410.3847/1538-4357/add46bClouds Can Enhance Direct-imaging Detection of O2 and O3 on Terrestrial ExoplanetsHuanzhou Yang0https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8693-7053Michelle Hu1https://orcid.org/0009-0004-1844-0845Dorian S. Abbot2https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8335-6560Department of the Geophysical Sciences, University of Chicago , USADepartment of Physics, University of Chicago , USADepartment of the Geophysical Sciences, University of Chicago , USAClouds are often considered a highly uncertain barrier for detecting biosignatures on exoplanets, especially given intuition gained from transit surveys. However, for direct-imaging reflected light observations, clouds could increase the observational signal by increasing reflected light. Here we constrain the impact of clouds on the detection of O _2 and O _3 by a direct-imaging telescope such as the Habitable Worlds Observatory (HWO) using observations simulated with the Planetary Spectrum Generator (PSG). We first perform sensitivity tests to show that low clouds enhance O _2 and O _3 detectability while high clouds diminish it, and the effect is greater when cloud particles are smaller. We next apply clouds produced by the cloud microphysics model Community Aerosol and Radiation Model for Atmospheres with varied planetary parameters and clouds drawn from observations of different types of clouds on Earth to PSG. We find that clouds are likely to increase the signal-to-noise ratio of O _2 and O _3 for terrestrial exoplanets under a wide range of scenarios. This work provides important constraints on the impact of clouds on observations by telescopes including HWO.https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/add46bAtmospheric cloudsDirect imagingExoplanet atmospheresBiosignatures |
| spellingShingle | Huanzhou Yang Michelle Hu Dorian S. Abbot Clouds Can Enhance Direct-imaging Detection of O2 and O3 on Terrestrial Exoplanets The Astrophysical Journal Atmospheric clouds Direct imaging Exoplanet atmospheres Biosignatures |
| title | Clouds Can Enhance Direct-imaging Detection of O2 and O3 on Terrestrial Exoplanets |
| title_full | Clouds Can Enhance Direct-imaging Detection of O2 and O3 on Terrestrial Exoplanets |
| title_fullStr | Clouds Can Enhance Direct-imaging Detection of O2 and O3 on Terrestrial Exoplanets |
| title_full_unstemmed | Clouds Can Enhance Direct-imaging Detection of O2 and O3 on Terrestrial Exoplanets |
| title_short | Clouds Can Enhance Direct-imaging Detection of O2 and O3 on Terrestrial Exoplanets |
| title_sort | clouds can enhance direct imaging detection of o2 and o3 on terrestrial exoplanets |
| topic | Atmospheric clouds Direct imaging Exoplanet atmospheres Biosignatures |
| url | https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/add46b |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT huanzhouyang cloudscanenhancedirectimagingdetectionofo2ando3onterrestrialexoplanets AT michellehu cloudscanenhancedirectimagingdetectionofo2ando3onterrestrialexoplanets AT doriansabbot cloudscanenhancedirectimagingdetectionofo2ando3onterrestrialexoplanets |