Speaker: Tiffany Kataria, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Exoplanet Discovery and Science Title: Understanding the Origin of Life on Exoplanets Zoom Link: https://washington.zoom.us/my/uwastrobiology
Please contact astrobio@uw.edu in advance of the meeting for the password Abstract:
Understanding how life might arise on terrestrial exoplanets is predicated on our ability to understand the origin and evolution of life on planets within our own solar system. While scientists can benefit from information-rich, in-situ measurements on Earth and other terrestrial solar system planets, exoplanet observations are a photon-starved (and therefore, information starved) endeavor. Therefore, focusing on discerning and understanding bulk chemical properties and driving forces on a planetary scale is imperative to understanding exoplanetary habitability and biosignatures. In this talk, I will discuss ongoing efforts to understand the origin and evolution of life on exoplanets using a suite of surface-atmosphere models and laboratory measurements. These efforts seek to bridge the gap between understanding exoplanet atmospheric ‘biosignatures’ and the very biology and metabolisms found on Earth. We have placed particular focus on studying Earth’s Great Oxidation Event (GOE) as a proxy for drastic chemical transitions on a global scale that might arise on an exoplanet. I will also discuss prospects for understanding the origin and evolution of life using measurements from future ground- and space-based telescopes. |