Variation des biomarqueurs dans le spectre visible non résolu de la Terre
The rapid evolution of the detection and characterization of exoplanets since the nineties is such that instruments like the Terrestrial Planet Finder (TPF) will surely take the first spectra of exoplanets similar to the Earth in the next decades. The study of the spectrum of the only inhabited planet we know, the Earth, is thus essential to conceive these instruments and to complete pertinent analyses of their results. This research presents the optical spectra (390-900 nm) of the Earth that were secured on 8 observing nights covering more than a year. These spectra were obtained by observing the Earthshine with the 1.6 m telescope at the Observatoire du Mont-Mégantic (OMM). Because the surface of the Moon reflects diffusely the light coming from a portion of the Earth, the observation of Earthshine allow us to get spatially unresolved spectra, like those that will likely be obtained for exoplanets with the first generation of instruments. The variation of the Earth’s spectrum with the changing contributing phase of the Earth is also similar to that of an exoplanet spectrum, which changes with its position around the star.   Water, oxygen and ozone of the Earth’s atmosphere, detected in all of our spectra, are biomarkers. They give clues about the habitability and the possible presence of life on a planet. The Vegetation Red Edge (VRE), another spectral biomarker, caused by photosynthetic organisms, is characterized by an increase in reflectivity around 700 nm. For the spectra of 5 nights, this increase was evaluated to be between -5 and 15% ±~5%, after the contributions of Rayleigh and aerosol scattering, as well as of a wide ozone absorption band were removed. These values are consistent with the presence of vegetation in the phase of the Earth contributing to the spectra. However, they cover a larger range than that usually found in the literature (0-10%). A possible explanation could be the few arbitrary choices that were made during data processing and VRE computation or the presence of other surface and atmospheric elements with a spectral signature varying around 700 nm.
Vegetation Red Edge Earth spectrum Earthshine Biomarkers Vegetation Red Edge Terrestrial exoplanets