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Astrobiological signatures: prospects for the detection of non-terrestrial biological material
(2007)
The possibilities for detecting non-terrestrial biological material are briefly reviewed in light of the flurry of extrasolar planet detections over the last ten years and the forthcoming space missions designed to search ...
Alignment of atmospheric mineral dust due to electric field
(2007)
Optical polarimetry observations on La Palma, Canary Islands, during a Saharan dust episode show dichroic extinction indicating the presence of vertically aligned particles in the atmosphere. Modelling of the extinction ...
Polarimetry : a powerful diagnostic tool in astronomy
(2006)
Knowledge of the polarization state of radiation provides far more astrophysical information than intensity alone. Polarimetry has played a key role in the development of modern astronomy, providing insight into physical ...
An Extended Search for Circularly Polarized Infrared Radiation from the OMC-1 Region of Orion
(2005-05)
We present new observations of circular polarization (CP) at 2.2 m in the Orion (OMC-1) molecular cloud. Our results extend a previously published study of the region.We show that the degree of CP correlates spatially with ...
UV Circular Polarisation in Star Formation Regions : The Origin of Homochirality?
(2005-02)
Ultraviolet circularly polarised light has been suggested as the initial cause of the homochirality of organic molecules in terrestrial organisms, via enantiomeric selection of prebiotic molecules by asymmetric photolysis. ...