Seeing Earth as an exoplanet: What signs of life are visible?
Elizabeth Howell, Astrobio.Net
NASA’s Kepler space telescope is among a fleet of telescopes and spacecraft searching for rocky planets similar to our own. Shadow glance Observations took place during a total lunar eclipse on Dec. 10, 2011. Credit: ESO Ozone on other planets If we were to look at Earth as an exoplanet, could the nitrogen dioxide be interpreted as a sign of pollution, of microbial life or of a volcano? Ozone might also be visible. One thing that future telescopes could look for is the signature of ozone in an Earth-like planet’s atmosphere.