Related papers: Milankovitch Cycles for a Circumstellar Earth-anal…
Recently, it has been shown that rocky planets orbiting neutron stars can be habitable under non unrealistic circumstances. If a distant, pointlike source of visible light such as a Sun-like main sequence star or the gravitationally lensed…
Radial velocity monitoring has found the signature of a $M \sin i = 1.3$~M$_\oplus$ planet located within the Habitable Zone (HZ) of Proxima Centauri \citep{Anglada16}. Despite a hotter past and an active host star the planet Proxima~b…
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…
We review how tides may impact the habitability of terrestrial-like planets. If such planets form around low-mass stars, then planets in the circumstellar habitable zone will be close enough to their host stars to experience strong tidal…
Past work has shown that ocean salinity and planetary obliquity both influence the climates of Earth-like exoplanets throughout the habitable zone of Sun-like stars. The effects of salinity and obliquity can be profound, with low vs. high…
Planets in the "Habitable Zones" around M-type stars are important targets for characterization in future observations. Due to tidal-locking in synchronous spin-orbit rotations, the planets tend to have a hot dayside and a cold nightside.…
Exoplanet discoveries over recent years have shown that terrestrial planets are exceptionally common. Many of these planets are in compact systems that result in complex orbital dynamics. A key step toward determining the surface conditions…
The Milankovitch cycles of Earth result from gravitational interactions with other bodies in the Solar System. These interactions lead to slow changes in the orbit and angular momentum vector of Earth, and correspondingly influence Earth's…
Roughly half of Solar-type planet hosts have stellar companions, so understanding how these binary companions affect the formation and evolution of planets is an important component to understanding planetary systems overall. Measuring the…
Giant planets that reside in close proximity to their host stars are subject to extreme irradiation, which gives rise to thermal ionization of trace Alkali metals in their atmospheres. On objects where the atmospheric electrical…
It has been suggested that the long-lived residual radial velocity variations observed in the precision radial velocity measurements of the primary of Gamma Cephei (HR8974, HD222404, HIP116727) are likely due to a Jupiter-like planet around…
Cloud cover at the planetary limb of water-rich Earth-like planets is likely to weaken chemical signatures in transmission spectra, impeding attempts to characterize these atmospheres. However, based on observations of Earth and solar…
Many exoplanets are discovered in binary star systems in internal or in circumbinary orbits. Whether the planet can be habitable or not depends on the possibility to maintain liquid water on its surface, and therefore on the luminosity of…
The potential habitability of an exoplanet is traditionally assessed by determining if its orbit falls within the circumstellar `habitable zone' of its star, defined as the distance at which water could be liquid on the surface of a planet…
Several concepts have been brought forward to determine where terrestrial planets are likely to remain habitable in multi-stellar environments. Isophote-based habitable zones, for instance, rely on insolation geometry to predict…
The rotation of a star and the revolutions of its planets are not necessarily aligned. This article reviews the measurement techniques, key findings, and theoretical interpretations related to the obliquities (spin-orbit angles) of…
Planet formation is often considered in the context of one circumstellar disk around one star. Yet stellar binary systems are ubiquitous, and thus a substantial fraction of all potential planets must form and evolve in more complex,…
We report a mechanism capable of reducing (or increasing) stellar activity in binary stars, thereby potentially enhancing (or destroying) circumbinary habitability. In single stars, stellar aggression towards planetary atmospheres causes…
The habitable zone is the region around a star where standing bodies of liquid water can be stable on a planetary surface. Its width is often assumed to be dictated by the efficiency of the carbonate-silicate cycle, which has maintained…
Climate modeling has shown that tidally influenced terrestrial exoplanets, particularly those orbiting M-dwarfs, have unique atmospheric dynamics and surface conditions that may enhance their likelihood to host viable habitats. However,…