Observations of Extrasolar Planets Enabled by a Return to the Moon

Details Observations of Extrasolar Planets Enabled by a Return to the Moon Observations of Extrasolar Planets Enabled by a Return to the Moon

2007-03-13

arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0703328v1

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astrophysics

To be published in Astrophysics Enabled by the Return to the Moon, Ed. M. Livio (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press), 2007

Scientific paper

Ambitious studies of Earth-like extrasolar planets are outlined in the context of an exploration initiative for a return to the Earth's Moon. Two mechanism for linearly polarizing light reflected from Earth-like planets are discussed: 1) Rayleigh-scattering from a planet's clear atmosphere, and 2) specular reflection from a planet's ocean. Both have physically simple and predictable polarized phase functions. The exoplanetary diurnal variation of the polarized light reflected from a ocean but not from a land surface has the potential to enable reconstruction of the continental boundaries on an Earth-like extrasolar planet. Digressions on the lunar exploration initiative also are presented.

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