Atmospheric Signs of Volcanic Activity Could Aid Search for Life

UW Today: 06/08/2015, Peter Kelley

An eruption of the Calbuco Volcano in southern Chile. A team of astronomers led by the UW’s Amit Misra used data from volcanic eruptions on Earth to predict what an Earth-like exoplanet might look like during such eruptions. Credit: Wikimedia Commons

Planets with volcanic activity are considered better candidates for life than worlds without such heated internal goings-on. Now, graduate students at the University of Washington have found a way to detect volcanic activity in the atmospheres of exoplanets, or those outside our solar system, when they transit, or pass in front of their host stars. Read More...