To date , astronomers have catalogued over 860 exoplanets . If that was n’t remarkable enough , scientist have also been able to determine the atmospheric composition of many of these planets by break down their spectral shifts . But even more unbelievable would be the ability to in reality graph landmass and oceanic expanse . According to scientist Nicolas Cowan , this might actually be potential — and he suppose he knows how to do it .
Top image : An EPOXI mission prototype shows what an Earth - same exoplanet might look like from a great aloofness ( NASA / JPL - Caltech / UMD / GSFC ) .
Cowan , who act upon at Northwestern University in Evanston , Illinois , present his plan at this calendar month ’s coming together of the American Astronomical Society in Long Beach , California . His idea is that software will finally be able to take reflected starlight and loosen it apart to shape rudimentary single-valued function of exoplanetary surface . It ’s a proficiency that was inspired by a pre - existing technology that ’s presently being used to distinguish natural from affected surfaces on Earth .
As Ker Than of LiveSciencereports , Cowan try his package program on icon of Earth taken by NASA ’s Deep Impact spacecraft from a distant vantage point in infinite . He was capable to parse out decisive feature , admit body politic , ocean , and clouds .
The technique , called “ rotational unmixing , ” dissect the changing color of starlight reflecting off a distant exoplanet as it spin . The software calculates the mix of erratic features that return a specific hue . It ’s kin to check a video paradigm reverberate off a surface ; it ’s far from unadulterated , but a basic image emerges .
Than write :
Lisa Kaltenegger , an exoplanet researcher at the Max - Planck Institute for Astronomy in Heidelberg , Germany , said Cowan ’s proficiency was very interesting – but with a few caution . For example , the exoplanet must have highly contrast surfaces , such as ocean and land , or ocean and clouds , for this technique to influence well .
“ If you have an sea satellite or a satellite that is all land , it would be very challenging because you do n’t have dissimilar surfaces , ” said Kaltenegger , who also did not enter in the work .
Another challenge would be signalize between cloud and ice on a major planet ’s control surface , according to Aomawa Shields , an astrobiologist at the University of Washington in Seattle who was not involved in the discipline .
“ Being able to tell whether a planet is merely undergo significant swarm cover , or is in the midst of a global glaciation is crucial from the standpoint of habitability , ” Shields state .
In damage of when this technique can be used to study the surface of aloof planets , Cowan pronounce it will demand “ a next - gen ” telescope , something that may become available in the other 2020s .
Read more atLiveScience .
Interior figure by Andy McLatchie
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