Abstract
ABSTRACT It has recently been suggested that an exomoon with a CH4 atmosphere, orbiting an abiotic Earth-mass planet with an O2-rich atmosphere, can produce a false positive biosignature at a low–moderate spectral resolution (R = λ/Δλ ≤ 2000). If this were true, inferring the presence of life on exoplanets will be beyond our reach in the next several decades. Here we use a line-by-line radiative transfer model to compute the relevant reflection spectrum between 1 and 3.3 μm. We show that it is possible to separate the combined spectra of such planet–moon systems from an inhabited planet by multiple-band NIR observations. We suggest that future observations near the 2.3 μm CH4 absorption band at a resolution of 100 and an SNR of 10 or more may be a good way to distinguish an abiotic planet–moon system from a inhabited single planet.
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