Results tagged “habitable zone”

Planetary rotation rate is a key parameter in determining atmospheric circulation and hence the spatial pattern of clouds. Since clouds can exert a dominant control on planetary radiation balance, rotation rate could be critical for determining mean planetary climate.

The ongoing discoveries of extrasolar planets are unveiling a wide range of terrestrial mass (size) planets around their host stars.

Scientists recently discovered the source of naturally occurring aerosol particles in Earth's atmosphere that play an important role in cloud formation.

The habitable zone (HZ) is defined as the region around a star where a planet can support liquid water on its surface, which, together with an oxygen atmosphere, is presumed to be necessary (and sufficient) to develop and sustain life on the planet.

Our understanding of the processes that are relevant to the formation and maintenance of habitable planetary systems is advancing at a rapid pace, both from observation and theory.

Earth is the only known example of an inhabited planet in the universe, so the search for alien life has focused on Earth-like worlds.

HARPS and it Kepler results indicate that half of solar-type stars host planets with periods P<100 d and masses M < 30 M_E.

Models of planet formation have shown that giant planets have a large impact on the number, masses and orbits of terrestrial planets that form.

The "holy grail" in planet hunting is the detection of an Earth-analog: a planet with similar mass as the Earth and an orbit inside the habitable zone.

We developed an idealized two-column model to investigate the climate of tidally locked terrestrial planets with Earth-like atmospheres in the habitable zone of M-dwarf stars.

Detection of life on other planets requires identification of biosignatures, i.e., observable planetary properties that robustly indicate the presence of a biosphere.

We make a preliminary assessment on the habitability of potential rocky exoplanets around Alpha Centauri B.

We have developed a comprehensive methodology and an interactive website for calculating the habitable zone (HZ) of multiple star systems.

The habitable zone (HZ) around a star is typically defined as the region where a rocky planet can maintain liquid water on its surface.

We explore the minimum distance from a host star for an exoplanet to be potentially habitable, in order to maximize future chances of finding other habitable worlds. We find that the inner edge of the Habitable Zone (HZ) for hot desert worlds is at 0.5 AU around a solar-like star (well within the orbit of Venus).

In part two of The Great Exoplanet Debate, the panel of experts discuss current concepts of habitability and how these concepts are changing as our knowledge of life's potential grows. This debate comes from a plenary session hosted by Astrobiology Magazine at the 2012 Astrobiology Science Conference. The sesstion was titled: "Expanding the Habitable Zone. The Hunt for Exoplanets Now and Into the Future."