colors on a planet?

[lzapp]

I'm doing some research, and need to find out what colors reflect supportable life. Would a certain color of sky, terrain, moon, sun, etc mean that life is, or most likely, is not possible?<br /><br />Is the chemical makeup a factor, I'm guessing, in the terrain...would the sky be affected by the contents of the atmosphere, or rather by the surrounding stars/moons?<br /><br />I'd appreciate any input!<br /><br />Linda

 

[billslugg]

Linda <br />Welcome to Space.com! <br /><br />I have read that ozone represents the best way to search for life on far away planets.<br /><br />What we are looking for, of course, is oxygen. Oxygen is very reactive and is not generally found free in nature. We assume that free oxygen is only found where life exists. But, apparently, oxygen does not have absorption bands that are useful for its identification. It is transparent at visible wavelengths but does have strong absorption features in the microwave region. <br /><br />Well, if we can't see oxygen very well, what can we see? It turns out that when an 02 molecule is hit by a UV photon, it can break apart. One of the oxygen atoms might join with an 02 to form O3 (ozone). And ozone has a very strong absorption peak at 250 nm in the ultraviolet. This is a wavelength that we can see with space based telescopes. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p> </p><p> </p> </div>