DETECTING BIOMARKERS IN EXOPLANETARYATMOSPHERES WITH TERRESTRIAL PLANET FINDER

摘要

Current design concepts for an optical terrestrial planet-finding mission (TPF) are limited to the spectral range, 0.4-1.05μm. However, there are good reasons to extend the spectral range of obser-vation to shorter wavelengths such as higher angular resolution. But the most important reason is that the sensitivity to the presence of life on habitable exoplanets is increased over a hundred-fold by access to the ozone biomarker in the mid-ultraviolet.