Can Isotopologues Be Used as Biosignature Gases in Exoplanet Atmospheres?
Isotopologue ratios are anticipated to be one of the most promising signs of life that can be observed remotely. On Earth, carbon isotopes have been used for decades as evidence of modern and early metabolic processes. In fact, carbon isotopes may be the oldest evidence for life on Earth, though the...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
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Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute
2023
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| Online Access: | https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/153250 |
| _version_ | 1811070206324244480 |
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| author | Glidden, Ana Seager, Sara Petkowski, Janusz J. Ono, Shuhei |
| author2 | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences |
| author_facet | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences Glidden, Ana Seager, Sara Petkowski, Janusz J. Ono, Shuhei |
| author_sort | Glidden, Ana |
| collection | MIT |
| description | Isotopologue ratios are anticipated to be one of the most promising signs of life that can be observed remotely. On Earth, carbon isotopes have been used for decades as evidence of modern and early metabolic processes. In fact, carbon isotopes may be the oldest evidence for life on Earth, though there are alternative geological processes that can lead to the same magnitude of fractionation. However, using isotopologues as biosignature gases in exoplanet atmospheres presents several challenges. Most significantly, we will only have limited knowledge of the underlying abiotic carbon reservoir of an exoplanet. Atmospheric carbon isotope ratios will thus have to be compared against the local interstellar medium or, better yet, their host star. A further substantial complication is the limited precision of remote atmospheric measurements using spectroscopy. The various metabolic processes that cause isotope fractionation cause less fractionation than anticipated measurement precision (biological fractionation is typically 2 to 7%). While this level of precision is easily reachable in the laboratory or with special in situ instruments, it is out of reach of current telescope technology to measure isotope ratios for terrestrial exoplanet atmospheres. Thus, gas isotopologues are poor biosignatures for exoplanets given our current and foreseeable technological limitations. |
| first_indexed | 2024-09-23T08:32:03Z |
| format | Article |
| id | mit-1721.1/153250 |
| institution | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| last_indexed | 2024-09-23T08:32:03Z |
| publishDate | 2023 |
| publisher | Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | mit-1721.1/1532502024-01-24T21:56:21Z Can Isotopologues Be Used as Biosignature Gases in Exoplanet Atmospheres? Glidden, Ana Seager, Sara Petkowski, Janusz J. Ono, Shuhei Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences MIT Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics Isotopologue ratios are anticipated to be one of the most promising signs of life that can be observed remotely. On Earth, carbon isotopes have been used for decades as evidence of modern and early metabolic processes. In fact, carbon isotopes may be the oldest evidence for life on Earth, though there are alternative geological processes that can lead to the same magnitude of fractionation. However, using isotopologues as biosignature gases in exoplanet atmospheres presents several challenges. Most significantly, we will only have limited knowledge of the underlying abiotic carbon reservoir of an exoplanet. Atmospheric carbon isotope ratios will thus have to be compared against the local interstellar medium or, better yet, their host star. A further substantial complication is the limited precision of remote atmospheric measurements using spectroscopy. The various metabolic processes that cause isotope fractionation cause less fractionation than anticipated measurement precision (biological fractionation is typically 2 to 7%). While this level of precision is easily reachable in the laboratory or with special in situ instruments, it is out of reach of current telescope technology to measure isotope ratios for terrestrial exoplanet atmospheres. Thus, gas isotopologues are poor biosignatures for exoplanets given our current and foreseeable technological limitations. 2023-12-22T18:38:05Z 2023-12-22T18:38:05Z 2023-12-11 2023-12-22T13:45:31Z Article http://purl.org/eprint/type/JournalArticle https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/153250 Life 13 (12): 2325 (2023) PUBLISHER_CC http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/life13122325 Creative Commons Attribution https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ application/pdf Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute |
| spellingShingle | Glidden, Ana Seager, Sara Petkowski, Janusz J. Ono, Shuhei Can Isotopologues Be Used as Biosignature Gases in Exoplanet Atmospheres? |
| title | Can Isotopologues Be Used as Biosignature Gases in Exoplanet Atmospheres? |
| title_full | Can Isotopologues Be Used as Biosignature Gases in Exoplanet Atmospheres? |
| title_fullStr | Can Isotopologues Be Used as Biosignature Gases in Exoplanet Atmospheres? |
| title_full_unstemmed | Can Isotopologues Be Used as Biosignature Gases in Exoplanet Atmospheres? |
| title_short | Can Isotopologues Be Used as Biosignature Gases in Exoplanet Atmospheres? |
| title_sort | can isotopologues be used as biosignature gases in exoplanet atmospheres |
| url | https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/153250 |
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