EarthShine: Observing our world as an exoplanet from the surface of the Moon

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https://www.spiedigitallibrary.org/journals/Journal-of-Astronomical-Telescopes-Instruments-and-Systems/volume-8/issue-01/014003/EarthShine--Observing-our-world-as-an-exoplanet-from-the/10.1117/1.JATIS.8.1.014003.full#:~:text=EarthShine%3A%20Observing%20our%20world%20as,the%20surface%20of%20the%20Moon&text=NASA's%20return%20to%20the%20Moon%20coincides%20with%20explosive%20growth%20in%20exoplanet%20discovery.&text=We%20present%20EarthShine%2C%20a%20technically,Moon%20as%20an%20exoplanet%20proxy.

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https://doi.org/10.1117/1.JATIS.8.1.014003
 http://hdl.handle.net/11603/24344

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UMBC Center for Space Sciences and Technology (CSST) / Center for Research and Exploration in Space Sciences & Technology II (CRSST II)
UMBC Faculty Collection

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Author/Creator ORCID

https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7139-2724

Date

2022-01-24

Type of Work

journal articles
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Citation of Original Publication

Patricia T. Boyd, Emily L. Wilson, Alan P. Smale, Pete Supsinskas, Timothy A. Livengood, Tilak Hewagama, Geronimo L. Villanueva, Alexander Marshak, Nickolay A. Krotkov, Petr Pokorny, Jay Bixler, Jonathan D. Noland, Guru Ramu, Paul Cleveland, John Ganino, Murzy Jhabvala, Elisa Quintana, Emily Gilbert, Knicole Colón, Giada N. Arney, Shawn D. Domagal-Goldman, Avi Mandell, Tom Barclay, Marc Kuchner, Lesley Ott, "EarthShine: Observing our world as an exoplanet from the surface of the Moon," J. Astron. Telesc. Instrum. Syst. 8(1) 014003 (24 January 2022) https://doi.org/10.1117/1.JATIS.8.1.014003

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This work was written as part of one of the author's official duties as an Employee of the United States Government and is therefore a work of the United States Government. In accordance with 17 U.S.C. 105, no copyright protection is available for such works under U.S. Law.
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Abstract

NASA’s return to the Moon coincides with explosive growth in exoplanet discovery. Missions are being formulated to search for habitable planets orbiting other stars, making this the ideal time to deploy an instrument suite to the lunar surface to help us recognize a habitable exoplanet when we see it. We present EarthShine, a technically mature, three-instrument suite to observe the whole Earth from the Moon as an exoplanet proxy. EarthShine data will validate and improve models critical for designing missions to image and characterize exoplanets, thus informing observing strategies for flagship missions to directly image exoplanets. EarthShine will answer interconnected questions in Earth and lunar science, exoplanets, and astrobiology, related to the credo “follow the water.” EarthShine can take advantage of current NASA programs to conduct science from the Moon with low-cost, mature space hardware to reduce risk and assure success. Like the 1968 Apollo Earthrise image of our home planet, lonely in the black sky, the appeal of EarthShine to a multidisciplinary array of researchers in Earth Science, Planetary Science, and astrophysics will maximize both its scientific impact and its impact on the general public.