Sarah Hörst Creates Exoplanet Atmospheres in Her Lab

Today, Hörst runs her own lab at Johns Hopkins University, where she simulates the atmospheres of planets and moons beyond Earth. Hörst hopes to re-create those atmospheres in the lab, thus allowing astronomers to better interpret their results. If researchers find signs of oxygen in a distant atmosphere, for example, Hörst’s experiments will help determine whether the gas was sparked by ordinary chemical and geologic processes, or if it’s a genuine signal that life exists elsewhere in the universe.

Source: www.quantamagazine.org