Astronomy Today@astronomytodayPlanetary scientist Samantha Gilbert-Janizek of UC Riverside has built a computer model of a rocky planet evolving without life. It gives astronomers a reference for exoplanet atmospheres.
The model covers 19 properties unrelated to life, such as the heat a planet receives from its star. Run from Earth's birth 4.5 billion years ago through 500 million years ahead, it produced a lifeless world with oceans and an atmosphere.
If a planet's observed atmosphere doesn't match the lifeless simulation, that could hint at life, though it wouldn't prove it, and it could help pick worlds for follow-up.
