scholarly journals Exoplanet Searches in the Habitable Zone with Gravitational Microlensing

2012 ◽  
Vol 8 (S293) ◽  
pp. 36-38
Author(s):  
Alexander F. Zakharov ◽  
Gabriele Ingrosso ◽  
Francesco De Paolis ◽  
Achille A. Nucita ◽  
Francesco Strafella ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Relative Position ◽  
Theoretical Models ◽  
Polarization Angle ◽  
Habitable Zone ◽  
Polarization Measurements ◽  
Additional Information ◽  
Spectral Shifts ◽  
Gravitational Microlensing ◽  
Earth Like Planets ◽  
Host Stars

AbstractThere are different methods for finding exoplanets such as radial spectral shifts, astrometrical measurements, transits, timing, etc. Gravitational microlensing (including pixel-lensing) is among the most promising techniques with the potential of detecting Earth-like planets at distances about a few astronomical units from their host stars. Here we emphasize the importance of polarization measurements which can help to resolve degeneracies in theoretical models. In particular, the polarization angle could give additional information about the relative position of the lens with respect to the source.

scholarly journals High-resolution reflection spectra for Proxima b and Trappist-1e models for ELT observations

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Z Lin ◽  
L Kaltenegger
Keyword(s):  
High Resolution ◽  
Reflection Spectra ◽  
Habitable Zone ◽  
Climate Indicators ◽  
Reflected Light ◽  
Earth Like Planets ◽  
M Stars ◽  
Large Telescopes ◽  
Host Stars ◽  
Absorption Features

ABSTRACT The closest stars that harbor potentially habitable planets are cool M-stars. Upcoming ground- and space-based telescopes will be able to search the atmosphere of such planets for a range of chemicals. To facilitate this search and to inform upcoming observations, we model the high-resolution reflection spectra of two of the closest potentially habitable exoplanets for a range of terrestrial atmospheres and surface pressures for active and inactive phases of their host stars for both oxic and anoxic conditions: Proxima b, the closest potentially habitable exoplanet, and Trappist-1e, one of 3 Earth-size planets orbiting in the Habitable Zone of Trappist-1. We find that atmospheric spectral features, including biosignatures like O2 in combination with a reduced gas like CH4 for oxic atmospheres, as well as climate indicators like CO2 and H2O for all atmospheres, show absorption features in the spectra of Proxima b and Trappist-1e models. However for some features like oxygen, high-resolution observations will be critical to identify them in a planet's reflected flux. Thus these two planets will be among the best targets for upcoming observations of potential Earth-like planets in reflected light with planned Extremely Large Telescopes.

scholarly journals How surfaces shape the climate of habitable exoplanets

2020 ◽  
Vol 495 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-11 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jack Madden ◽  
Lisa Kaltenegger
Keyword(s):  
Surface Albedo ◽  
Atmospheric Composition ◽  
Habitable Zone ◽  
Planetary Surfaces ◽  
Earth Like Planets ◽  
Planetary Environment ◽  
Near Future ◽  
Host Stars

ABSTRACT Large ground- and space-based telescopes will be able to observe Earth-like planets in the near future. We explore how different planetary surfaces can strongly influence the climate, atmospheric composition, and remotely detectable spectra of terrestrial rocky exoplanets in the habitable zone depending on the host star’s incident irradiation spectrum for a range of Sun-like host stars from F0V to K7V. We update a well-tested 1D climate-photochemistry model to explore the changes of a planetary environment for different surfaces for different host stars. Our results show that using a wavelength-dependent surface albedo is critical for modelling potentially habitable rocky exoplanets.

scholarly journals Carbonate-silicate cycle predictions of Earth-like planetary climates and testing the habitable zone concept

2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Owen R. Lehmer ◽  
David C. Catling ◽  
Joshua Krissansen-Totton
Keyword(s):  
Liquid Water ◽  
Physicochemical Parameters ◽  
Silicate Weathering ◽  
Habitable Zone ◽  
Two Dimensional ◽  
Land Area ◽  
Incident Flux ◽  
Earth Like Planets ◽  
Surface Liquid ◽  
Log Linear

AbstractIn the conventional habitable zone (HZ) concept, a CO2-H2O greenhouse maintains surface liquid water. Through the water-mediated carbonate-silicate weathering cycle, atmospheric CO2 partial pressure (pCO2) responds to changes in surface temperature, stabilizing the climate over geologic timescales. We show that this weathering feedback ought to produce a log-linear relationship between pCO2 and incident flux on Earth-like planets in the HZ. However, this trend has scatter because geophysical and physicochemical parameters can vary, such as land area for weathering and CO2 outgassing fluxes. Using a coupled climate and carbonate-silicate weathering model, we quantify the likely scatter in pCO2 with orbital distance throughout the HZ. From this dispersion, we predict a two-dimensional relationship between incident flux and pCO2 in the HZ and show that it could be detected from at least 83 (2σ) Earth-like exoplanet observations. If fewer Earth-like exoplanets are observed, testing the HZ hypothesis from this relationship could be difficult.

The habitable zone of Earth-mass planets around 47 UMa: results for land and water worlds

2003 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 35-39 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Franck ◽  
M. Cuntz ◽  
W. von Bloh ◽  
C. Bounama
Keyword(s):  
Surface Water ◽  
System Approach ◽  
Distinct Type ◽  
Integrated System ◽  
Habitable Zone ◽  
Stable Orbit ◽  
The Earth ◽  
Earth Like Planets ◽  
Very High

In a previous paper, we showed that Earth-type habitable planets around 47 UMa are in principle possible if a distinct set of conditions is warranted. These conditions include that the Earth-type planets have successfully formed and are orbitally stable and, in addition, that the 47 UMa star–planet system is relatively young ([lsim ]6 Gyr). We now extend this study by considering Earth-like planets with different land/ocean coverages. This study is again based on the so-called integrated system approach, which describes the photosynthetic biomass production taking into account a variety of climatological, biogeochemical and geodynamical processes. This approach implies a special characterization of the habitable zone defined for a distinct type of planet. We show that the likelihood of finding a habitable Earth-like planet on a stable orbit around 47 UMa critically depends on the percentage of the planetary land/ocean coverage. The likelihood is significantly increased for planets with a very high percentage of ocean surface (‘water worlds’).

scholarly journals Resilient habitability of nearby exoplanet systems

2019 ◽  
Vol 492 (1) ◽  
pp. 352-368 ◽  
Author(s):  
Giorgi Kokaia ◽  
Melvyn B Davies ◽  
Alexander J Mustill
Keyword(s):  
Giant Planet ◽  
Planetary Systems ◽  
Observational Constraints ◽  
Habitable Zone ◽  
Habitable Zones ◽  
Test Particles ◽  
Planetary Orbits ◽  
Two Systems ◽  
Earth Like Planets ◽  
Exoplanet Systems

ABSTRACT We investigate the possibility of finding Earth-like planets in the habitable zone of 34 nearby FGK-dwarfs, each known to host one giant planet exterior to their habitable zone detected by RV. First we simulate the dynamics of the planetary systems in their present day configurations and determine the fraction of stable planetary orbits within their habitable zones. Then, we postulate that the eccentricity of the giant planet is a result of an instability in their past during which one or more other planets were ejected from the system. We simulate these scenarios and investigate whether planets orbiting in the habitable zone survive the instability. Explicitly we determine the fraction of test particles, originally found in the habitable zone, which remain in the habitable zone today. We label this fraction the resilient habitability of a system. We find that for most systems the probability of planets existing [or surviving] on stable orbits in the habitable zone becomes significantly smaller when we include a phase of instability in their history. We present a list of candidate systems with high resilient habitability for future observations. These are: HD 95872, HD 154345, HD 102843, HD 25015, GJ 328, HD 6718, and HD 150706. The known planets in the last two systems have large observational uncertainties on their eccentricities, which propagate into large uncertainties on their resilient habitability. Further observational constraints of these two eccentricities will allow us to better constrain the survivability of Earth-like planets in these systems.

Stellar activity and winds shaping the atmospheres of Earth-like planets

2018 ◽  
Vol 14 (S345) ◽  
pp. 181-184
Author(s):  
Theresa Lueftinger ◽  
Manuel Güdel ◽  
Sudeshna Boro Saikia ◽  
Colin Johnstone ◽  
Beatrice Kulterer ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Magnetic Fields ◽  
Extreme Environments ◽  
Doppler Imaging ◽  
Research Network ◽  
Theoretical Understanding ◽  
Stellar Activity ◽  
Active Stars ◽  
Earth Like Planets ◽  
Stellar Magnetic Fields ◽  
Host Stars

AbstractPlanets orbiting young, active stars are embedded in an environment that is far from being as calm as the present solar neighbourhood. They experience the extreme environments of their host stars, which cannot have been without consequences for young stellar systems and the evolution of Earth-like planets to habitable worlds. Stellar magnetism and the related stellar activity are crucial drivers of ionization, photodissociation, and chemistry. Stellar winds can compress planetary magnetospheres and even strip away the outer layers of their atmospheres, thus having an enormous impact on the atmospheres and the magnetospheres of surrounding exoplanets. Modelling of stellar magnetic fields and their winds is extremely challenging, both from the observational and the theoretical points of view, and only ground breaking advances in observational instrumentation and a deeper theoretical understanding of magnetohydrodynamic processes in stars enable us to model stellar magnetic fields and their winds – and the resulting influence on the atmospheres of surrounding exoplanets – in more and more detail. We have initiated a national and international research network (NFN): ‘Pathways to Habitability – From Disks to Active Stars, Planets to Life’, to address questions on the formation and habitability of environments in young, active stellar/planetary systems. We discuss the work we are carrying out within this project and focus on how stellar evolutionary aspects in relation to activity, magnetic fields and winds influence the erosion of planetary atmospheres in the habitable zone. We present recent results of our theoretical and observational studies based on Zeeman Doppler Imaging (ZDI), field extrapolation methods, wind simulations, and the modeling of planetary upper atmospheres.

Swansong biospheres: refuges for life and novel microbial biospheres on terrestrial planets near the end of their habitable lifetimes

2012 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 99-112 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jack T. O'Malley-James ◽  
Jane S. Greaves ◽  
John A. Raven ◽  
Charles S. Cockell
Keyword(s):  
Climate Model ◽  
Cold Trap ◽  
Sequence Evolution ◽  
Form Of Life ◽  
Earth Like Planets ◽  
Forms Of Life ◽  
Complex Forms ◽  
End Stage ◽  
Micro Organisms ◽  
Host Stars

AbstractThe future biosphere on Earth (as with its past) will be made up predominantly of unicellular micro-organisms. Unicellular life was probably present for at least 2.5 Gyr before multicellular life appeared and will likely be the only form of life capable of surviving on the planet in the far future, when the ageing Sun causes environmental conditions to become more hostile to more complex forms of life. Therefore, it is statistically more likely that habitable Earth-like exoplanets we discover will be at a stage in their habitable lifetime more conducive to supporting unicellular, rather than multicellular life. The end stage of habitability on Earth is the focus of this work. A simple, latitude-based climate model incorporating eccentricity and obliquity variations is used as a guide to the temperature evolution of the Earth over the next 3 Gyr. This allows inferences to be made about potential refuges for life, particularly in mountains and cold-trap (ice) caves and what forms of life could live in these environments. Results suggest that in high latitude regions, unicellular life could persist for up to 2.8 Gyr from present. This begins to answer the question of how the habitability of Earth will evolve at local scales alongside the Sun's main sequence evolution and, by extension, how the habitability of Earth-like planets would evolve over time with their own host stars.

Habitable zone for Earth-like planets in the solar system

2000 ◽  
Vol 48 (11) ◽  
pp. 1099-1105 ◽  
Author(s):  
S Franck ◽  
A Block ◽  
W von Bloh ◽  
C Bounama ◽  
H.-J Schellnhuber ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Solar System ◽  
Habitable Zone ◽  
Earth Like Planets

The galactic habitable zone in elliptical galaxies

2012 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 157-161 ◽  
Author(s):  
Falguni Suthar ◽  
Christopher P. McKay
Keyword(s):  
Milky Way ◽  
Planet Formation ◽  
Elliptical Galaxies ◽  
Extrasolar Planet ◽  
Habitable Zone ◽  
Milky Way Galaxy ◽  
Habitable Zones ◽  
Nearby Stars ◽  
Host Stars ◽  
Metallicity Distribution

AbstractThe concept of a Galactic Habitable Zone (GHZ) was introduced for the Milky Way galaxy a decade ago as an extension of the earlier concept of the Circumstellar Habitable Zone. In this work, we consider the extension of the concept of a GHZ to other types of galaxies by considering two elliptical galaxies as examples, M87 and M32. We argue that the defining feature of the GHZ is the probability of planet formation which has been assumed to depend on the metallicity. We have compared the metallicity distribution of nearby stars with the metallicity of stars with planets to document the correlation between metallicity and planet formation and to provide a comparison to other galaxies. Metallicity distribution, based on the [Fe/H] ratio to solar, of nearby stars peaks at [Fe/H]≈−0.2 dex, whereas the metallicity distribution of extrasolar planet host stars peaks at [Fe/H]≈+0.4 dex. We compare the metallicity distribution of extrasolar planet host stars with the metallicity distribution of the outer star clusters of M87 and M32. The metallicity distribution of stars in the outer regions of M87 peaks at [Fe/H]≈−0.2 dex and extends to [Fe/H]≈+0.4 dex, which seems favourable for planet formation. The metallicity distribution of stars in the outer regions of M32 peaks at [Fe/H]≈−0.2 dex and extends to a much lower [Fe/H]. Both elliptical galaxies met the criteria of a GHZ. In general, many galaxies should support habitable zones.

scholarly journals Polarimetry as a tool to find and characterise habitable planets orbiting white dwarfs

2014 ◽  
Vol 10 (S305) ◽  
pp. 325-332 ◽  
Author(s):  
Luca Fossati ◽  
Stefano Bagnulo ◽  
Carole A. Haswell ◽  
Manish R. Patel ◽  
Richard Busuttil ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Radiation Dose ◽  
Uv Radiation ◽  
Uv Irradiation ◽  
White Dwarf ◽  
White Dwarfs ◽  
Terrestrial Planet ◽  
Habitable Zone ◽  
Habitable Planets ◽  
Earth Like Planets ◽  
M Dwarf

AbstractThere are several ways planets can survive the giant phase of the host star, hence one can consider the case of Earth-like planets orbiting white dwarfs. As a white dwarf cools from 6000 K to 4000 K, a planet orbiting at 0.01 AU from the star would remain in the continuous habitable zone (CHZ) for about 8 Gyr. Polarisation due to a terrestrial planet in the CHZ of a cool white dwarf (CWD) is 102 (104) times larger than it would be in the habitable zone of a typical M-dwarf (Sun-like star). Polarimetry is thus a powerful tool to detect close-in planets around white dwarfs. Multi-band polarimetry would also allow one to reveal the presence of a planet atmosphere, even providing a first characterisation. With current facilities a super-Earth-sized atmosphereless planet is detectable with polarimetry around the brightest known CWD. Planned future facilities render smaller planets detectable, in particular by increasing the instrumental sensitivity in the blue. Preliminary habitability study show also that photosynthetic processes can be sustained on Earth-like planets orbiting CWDs and that the DNA-weighted UV radiation dose for an Earth-like planet in the CHZ is less than the maxima encountered on Earth, hence white dwarfs are compatible with the persistence of complex life from the perspective of UV irradiation.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document