Dr Arwen Nicholson talked about Biosignatures independent of population dynamics<\/em>. Arwen has created a simple model based on an Archean Earth-like planet that considers air-ocean exchange, carbon-silicate cycling and a very simple biosphere in the form of microbes which produce methane, which then acts as a strong biosignature for the planet. By varying the death rate of microbes, Arwen finds that the concentration of methane in the atmopshere, and thus the planet’s biosignature are relatively insensitive to the detailed properties of the biota.<\/p>\n Prof. Tim Naylor presented the Terra Hunting Experiment<\/em>, of which Exeter is a major partner. Terra Hunting is the world’s most viable experiment to discover terrestrial, temperate planets orbiting stars like our Sun within the coming decade. For this, Terra Hunting will measure the wobble of 30 stars, on every observable night over 10 years. Based on the occurence rate of these planets (as measured by recent surveys such as Kepler), we expect to discover a handful of planets with similar mass and stellar irradiation as Earth. These planets will be prime targets for direct imaging in the next 20-30 years.<\/p>\n The majority of in-person participants mingled at tea and coffee after the talks (which are available to watch<\/a> on the GSI’s Youtube playlist<\/a>). Stay tuned for more talks and opportunities to discuss this exciting topic in future events! Please get in touch with\u00a0Dr Rapha\u00eblle Haywood<\/a> if you have any ideas and suggestions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Blog by workshop convenor, Dr Rapha\u00eblle Haywood The GSI Workshop: Exploring synergies between Earth sciences and astronomy took place on […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":445,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,15,27],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/gsi\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/155\/2022\/02\/RHaywoodseminar-1024x576.jpg\")