Solid grains ejected from terrestrial exoplanets as a probe of the abundance of life in the Milky Way
Abstract Searching for extrasolar biosignatures is important to understand life on Earth and its origin. Astronomical observations of exoplanets may find such signatures, but it is difficult and may be impossible to claim unambiguous detection of life by remote sensing of exoplanet atmospheres. Here...
Published in: | International Journal of Astrobiology |
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Cambridge University Press (CUP)
2023
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Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s147355042300006x https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S147355042300006X |
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crcambridgeupr:10.1017/s147355042300006x 2023-06-11T04:06:40+02:00 Solid grains ejected from terrestrial exoplanets as a probe of the abundance of life in the Milky Way Totani, Tomonori 2023 http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s147355042300006x https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S147355042300006X en eng Cambridge University Press (CUP) http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ International Journal of Astrobiology page 1-7 ISSN 1473-5504 1475-3006 Earth and Planetary Sciences (miscellaneous) Space and Planetary Science Physics and Astronomy (miscellaneous) Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics journal-article 2023 crcambridgeupr https://doi.org/10.1017/s147355042300006x 2023-05-01T18:21:45Z Abstract Searching for extrasolar biosignatures is important to understand life on Earth and its origin. Astronomical observations of exoplanets may find such signatures, but it is difficult and may be impossible to claim unambiguous detection of life by remote sensing of exoplanet atmospheres. Here, another approach is considered: collecting grains ejected by asteroid impacts from exoplanets in the Milky Way and then travelling to the Solar System. The optimal grain size for this purpose is around 1 μ m, and though uncertainty is large, about 10 5 such grains are expected to be accreting on Earth every year, which may contain biosignatures of life that existed on their home planets. These grains may be collected by detectors placed in space, or extracted from Antarctic ice or deep-sea sediments, depending on future technological developments. Article in Journal/Newspaper Antarc* Antarctic Cambridge University Press (via Crossref) Antarctic Milky Way ENVELOPE(-68.705,-68.705,-71.251,-71.251) International Journal of Astrobiology 1 7 |
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Cambridge University Press (via Crossref) |
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crcambridgeupr |
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English |
topic |
Earth and Planetary Sciences (miscellaneous) Space and Planetary Science Physics and Astronomy (miscellaneous) Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics |
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Earth and Planetary Sciences (miscellaneous) Space and Planetary Science Physics and Astronomy (miscellaneous) Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics Totani, Tomonori Solid grains ejected from terrestrial exoplanets as a probe of the abundance of life in the Milky Way |
topic_facet |
Earth and Planetary Sciences (miscellaneous) Space and Planetary Science Physics and Astronomy (miscellaneous) Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics |
description |
Abstract Searching for extrasolar biosignatures is important to understand life on Earth and its origin. Astronomical observations of exoplanets may find such signatures, but it is difficult and may be impossible to claim unambiguous detection of life by remote sensing of exoplanet atmospheres. Here, another approach is considered: collecting grains ejected by asteroid impacts from exoplanets in the Milky Way and then travelling to the Solar System. The optimal grain size for this purpose is around 1 μ m, and though uncertainty is large, about 10 5 such grains are expected to be accreting on Earth every year, which may contain biosignatures of life that existed on their home planets. These grains may be collected by detectors placed in space, or extracted from Antarctic ice or deep-sea sediments, depending on future technological developments. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Totani, Tomonori |
author_facet |
Totani, Tomonori |
author_sort |
Totani, Tomonori |
title |
Solid grains ejected from terrestrial exoplanets as a probe of the abundance of life in the Milky Way |
title_short |
Solid grains ejected from terrestrial exoplanets as a probe of the abundance of life in the Milky Way |
title_full |
Solid grains ejected from terrestrial exoplanets as a probe of the abundance of life in the Milky Way |
title_fullStr |
Solid grains ejected from terrestrial exoplanets as a probe of the abundance of life in the Milky Way |
title_full_unstemmed |
Solid grains ejected from terrestrial exoplanets as a probe of the abundance of life in the Milky Way |
title_sort |
solid grains ejected from terrestrial exoplanets as a probe of the abundance of life in the milky way |
publisher |
Cambridge University Press (CUP) |
publishDate |
2023 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s147355042300006x https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S147355042300006X |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(-68.705,-68.705,-71.251,-71.251) |
geographic |
Antarctic Milky Way |
geographic_facet |
Antarctic Milky Way |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctic |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctic |
op_source |
International Journal of Astrobiology page 1-7 ISSN 1473-5504 1475-3006 |
op_rights |
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1017/s147355042300006x |
container_title |
International Journal of Astrobiology |
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1 |
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7 |
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1768378713077972992 |