Surface Imaging of Proxima b and Other Exoplanets: Topography, Biosignatures, and Artificial Mega-Structures. Berdyugina, S. V. & Kuhn, J. R. ArXiv e-prints, 1711:arXiv:1711.00185, October, 2017. ![Surface Imaging of Proxima b and Other Exoplanets: Topography, Biosignatures, and Artificial Mega-Structures [link]](https://bibbase.org/img/filetypes/link.svg "link")
Paper abstract bibtex Seeing oceans, continents, quasi-static weather, and other surface features on exoplanets may allow us to detect and characterize life outside the solar system. The Proxima b planet resides within the stellar habitable zone allowing for liquid water on its surface, and it may be Earth-like. However, even the largest planned telescopes will not be able to resolve its surface features directly. Here, we demonstrate an inversion technique to image indirectly exoplanet surfaces using observed unresolved reflected light variations over the course of the exoplanets orbital and axial rotation: ExoPlanet Surface Imaging (EPSI). We show that the reflected light curve contains enough information to detect both longitudinal and latitudinal structures and to map exoplanet surface features. We demonstrate this using examples of Solar system planets and moons as well as simulated planets with Earth-like life and artificial megastructures. We also describe how it is possible to infer the planet and orbit geometry from light curves. In particular, we show how albedo maps of Proxima b can be successfully reconstructed for tidally locked, resonance, and unlocked axial and orbital rotation. Such albedo maps obtained in different wavelength passbands can provide "photographic" views of distant exoplanets. We estimate the signal-to-noise ratio necessary for successful inversions and analyse telescope and detector requirements necessary for the first surface images of Proxima b and other nearby exoplanets.
@article{berdyugina_surface_2017,
title = {Surface {Imaging} of {Proxima} b and {Other} {Exoplanets}: {Topography}, {Biosignatures}, and {Artificial} {Mega}-{Structures}},
volume = {1711},
shorttitle = {Surface {Imaging} of {Proxima} b and {Other} {Exoplanets}},
url = {http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2017arXiv171100185B},
abstract = {Seeing oceans, continents, quasi-static weather, and other surface
features on exoplanets may allow us to detect and characterize life
outside the solar system. The Proxima b planet resides within the
stellar habitable zone allowing for liquid water on its surface, and it
may be Earth-like. However, even the largest planned telescopes will not
be able to resolve its surface features directly. Here, we demonstrate
an inversion technique to image indirectly exoplanet surfaces using
observed unresolved reflected light variations over the course of the
exoplanets orbital and axial rotation: ExoPlanet Surface Imaging (EPSI).
We show that the reflected light curve contains enough information to
detect both longitudinal and latitudinal structures and to map exoplanet
surface features. We demonstrate this using examples of Solar system
planets and moons as well as simulated planets with Earth-like life and
artificial megastructures. We also describe how it is possible to infer
the planet and orbit geometry from light curves. In particular, we show
how albedo maps of Proxima b can be successfully reconstructed for
tidally locked, resonance, and unlocked axial and orbital rotation. Such
albedo maps obtained in different wavelength passbands can provide
"photographic" views of distant exoplanets. We estimate the
signal-to-noise ratio necessary for successful inversions and analyse
telescope and detector requirements necessary for the first surface
images of Proxima b and other nearby exoplanets.},
journal = {ArXiv e-prints},
author = {Berdyugina, Svetlana V. and Kuhn, Jeff R.},
month = oct,
year = {2017},
keywords = {Astrophysics - Earth and Planetary Astrophysics},
pages = {arXiv:1711.00185},
}
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Here, we demonstrate an inversion technique to image indirectly exoplanet surfaces using observed unresolved reflected light variations over the course of the exoplanets orbital and axial rotation: ExoPlanet Surface Imaging (EPSI). We show that the reflected light curve contains enough information to detect both longitudinal and latitudinal structures and to map exoplanet surface features. We demonstrate this using examples of Solar system planets and moons as well as simulated planets with Earth-like life and artificial megastructures. We also describe how it is possible to infer the planet and orbit geometry from light curves. In particular, we show how albedo maps of Proxima b can be successfully reconstructed for tidally locked, resonance, and unlocked axial and orbital rotation. Such albedo maps obtained in different wavelength passbands can provide \"photographic\" views of distant exoplanets. 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The Proxima b planet resides within the\nstellar habitable zone allowing for liquid water on its surface, and it\nmay be Earth-like. However, even the largest planned telescopes will not\nbe able to resolve its surface features directly. Here, we demonstrate\nan inversion technique to image indirectly exoplanet surfaces using\nobserved unresolved reflected light variations over the course of the\nexoplanets orbital and axial rotation: ExoPlanet Surface Imaging (EPSI).\nWe show that the reflected light curve contains enough information to\ndetect both longitudinal and latitudinal structures and to map exoplanet\nsurface features. We demonstrate this using examples of Solar system\nplanets and moons as well as simulated planets with Earth-like life and\nartificial megastructures. We also describe how it is possible to infer\nthe planet and orbit geometry from light curves. In particular, we show\nhow albedo maps of Proxima b can be successfully reconstructed for\ntidally locked, resonance, and unlocked axial and orbital rotation. Such\nalbedo maps obtained in different wavelength passbands can provide\n\"photographic\" views of distant exoplanets. We estimate the\nsignal-to-noise ratio necessary for successful inversions and analyse\ntelescope and detector requirements necessary for the first surface\nimages of Proxima b and other nearby exoplanets.},\n\tjournal = {ArXiv e-prints},\n\tauthor = {Berdyugina, Svetlana V. and Kuhn, Jeff R.},\n\tmonth = oct,\n\tyear = {2017},\n\tkeywords = {Astrophysics - Earth and Planetary Astrophysics},\n\tpages = {arXiv:1711.00185},\n}\n\n","author_short":["Berdyugina, S. V.","Kuhn, J. 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