Related papers: Assessing Circumbinary Habitable Zones using Latit…
During the last decade, there was a paradigm-shift in order to consider terrestrial planets within liquid-water habitable zones (LW-HZ) around M stars, as suitable places for the emergence and evolution of life. Here we analyze the…
How do habitable environments arise and evolve within the context of their planetary systems? This is one fundamental question, and it can be addressed partly by identifying how planets in habitable zones obtain water. Historically,…
In previous hydrodynamical simulations, we found a mechanism for nearly circular binary stars, like Kepler-413, to trap two planets in a stable 1:1 resonance. Therefore, the stability of coorbital configurations becomes a relevant question…
In the conventional habitable zone (HZ) concept, a CO$_{2}$-H$_2$O greenhouse maintains surface liquid water. Through the water-mediated carbonate-silicate weathering cycle, atmospheric CO$_{2}$ partial pressure (pCO$_{2}$) responds to…
We investigate the dynamics of putative Earth-mass planets in the habitable zone (HZ) of the extrasolar planetary system OGLE-2006-BLG-109L, a close analog of the Solar system. Our work is inspired by work of Malhotra and Minton (2008).…
Planets that revolve around a binary pair of stars are known as circumbinary planets. The orbital motion of the stars around their center of mass causes a periodic variation in the total instellation incident upon a circumbinary planet.…
The dominant paradigm in assigning "habitability"' to terrestrial planets is to define a circumstellar habitable zone: the locus of orbital radii in which the planet is neither too hot nor too cold for life as we know it. One dimensional…
Studying the habitability, internal structure and composition of exoplanets is crucial for understanding their potential to sustain life beyond our solar system. Characterizing planetary structures and atmospheric evolution provides…
Binaries could provide the best niches for life in the galaxy. Though counterintuitive, this assertion follows directly from stellar tidal interaction theory and the evolution of lower mass stars. There is strong evidence that chromospheric…
The search for habitable planets has revealed many planets that can vary greatly from an Earth analog environment. These include highly eccentric orbits, giant planets, different bulk densities, relatively active stars, and evolved stars.…
We calculate the pre-main-sequence HZ for stars of spectral classes F to M. The spatial distribution of liquid water and its change during the pre-main-sequence phase of protoplanetary systems is important in understanding how planets…
Numerous circumbinary planets have been discovered in surveys of transiting planets. Often, these planets are found to orbit near to the zone of dynamical instability, close to the central binary. The existence of these planets has been…
A key goal of the Kepler mission is the discovery of Earth-size transiting planets in "habitable zones" where stellar irradiance maintains a temperate climate on an Earth-like planet. Robust estimates of planet radius and irradiance require…
(Shortened) We have used the measured properties of the stars in the 79 exoplanetary systems with one or more planets that have been observed in transit, to estimate each system's present habitability. The measured stellar properties have…
The NASA Kepler mission has discovered thousands of new planetary candidates, many of which have been confirmed through follow-up observations. A primary goal of the mission is to determine the occurrance rate of terrestrial-size planets…
It may be possible to detect biosignatures of photosynthesis in an exoplanet's atmosphere. However, such a detection would likely require a dedicated study, occupying a large amount of telescope time. It is therefore prudent, while…
Habitability is usually defined as the requirement for a terrestrial planet's atmosphere to sustain liquid water. This definition can be complemented by the dynamical requirement that other planets in the system do not gravitationally…
Traditional definitions of the habitable zone assume that habitable planets contain a carbonate-silicate cycle that regulates CO2 between the atmosphere, surface, and the interior. Such theories have been used to cast doubt on the…
We use the circumbinary planetary system Kepler-16b as an example to specify some considerations that may be of interest to astrobiologists regarding the dynamic nature of habitable zones around close double star systems.
In the first paper of this series, a comprehensive approach has been provided for the study of S-type and P-type habitable regions in stellar binary systems, which was, however, restricted to circular orbits of the stellar components.…