Abstract
The present work is a first attempt to investigate the feasibility of the optical detection of absorption lines in the atmosphere of extrasolar planets. Two cases are considered: (1) the “reflection” case, where the planet is observed by imaging via the light coming from the parent star and re-emitted by the planet; and (2) the “occultation” case, where the planet makes a partial occultation of the star. I find only in the latter case that there are planetary configurations where the absorption lines can effectively be detected with existing or forthcoming telescopes. The discussion is basically made for the O2 A-band, which is of interest for exobiology.
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Schneider, J. On the search for O2 in extrasolar planets. Astrophys Space Sci 212, 321–325 (1994). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00984535
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00984535