Related papers: Stellar space weather effects on potentially habit…
The magnetic activity levels of planet host stars may differ from that of stars not known to host planets in several ways. Hot Jupiters may induce activity in their hosts through magnetic interactions, or through tidal interactions by…
Planets may have effects on their host stars by tidal or magnetic interaction. Such star-planet interactions are thought to enhance the activity level of the host star. However, stellar activity also affects the sensitivity of planet…
The activity levels of stars are influenced by several stellar properties, such as stellar rotation, spectral type and the presence of stellar companions. In analogy to binaries, planetary companions are also thought to be able to cause…
The majority of potentially habitable exoplanets detected orbit stars cooler than the Sun, and therefore are irradiated by a stellar spectrum peaking at longer wavelengths than that incident on Earth. Here, we present results from a set of…
Solar flares are often accompanied by filament/prominence eruptions, sometimes leading to coronal mass ejections (CMEs). By analogy, we expect that stellar flares are also associated with stellar CMEs whose properties are essential to know…
The long-term habitability of Earth-like planets requires low orbital eccentricities. A secular perturbation from a distant stellar companion is a very important mechanism in exciting planetary eccentricities, as many of the extrasolar…
Stellar radiation has conservatively been used as the key constraint to planetary habitability. We review here the effects of tides, exerted by the host star on the planet, on the evolution of the planetary spin. Tides initially drive the…
Detailed characterization of an extrasolar planet's atmosphere provides the best hope for distinguishing the makeup of its outer layers, and the only hope for understanding the interplay between initial composition, chemistry, dynamics &…
Context. In tight binary star systems, tidal interactions can significantly influence the rotational and orbital evolution of both stars, and therefore their activity evolution. This can have strong effects on the atmospheric evolution of…
Planets with non-zero obliquity and/or orbital eccentricity experience seasonal variations of stellar irradiation at local latitudes. The extent of the atmospheric response can be crudely estimated by the ratio between the orbital timescale…
The ability of a planet to maintain surface water, key to life as we know it, depends on solar and planetary energy. As a star ages, it delivers more energy to a planet. As a planet ages it produces less internal heat, which leads to…
Tides may be crucial to the habitability of exoplanets. If such planets form around low-mass stars, then those in the circumstellar habitable zone will be close enough to their host stars to experience strong tidal forces. Tides may result…
We study the impact of multi-layered clouds (low-level water and high-level ice clouds) on the thermal emission spectra of Earth-like planets orbiting different types of stars. Clouds have an important influence on such planetary emission…
The importance of understanding the current and historical galactic environments of cool stars is discussed. The penetration of interstellar gas into a stellar astrosphere is a function of the interaction of the star with the interstellar…
Cloudy atmospheres produce electric discharges, including lightning. Lightning, in turn, provides sufficient energy to break down air molecules into reactive species and thereby affects the atmospheric composition. The climate of tidally…
Winds from short-period Earth and Neptune mass exoplanets, driven by high energy radiation from a young star, may evaporate a significant fraction of a planet's mass. If the momentum flux from the evaporative wind is not aligned with the…
Interstellar material surrounding an extrasolar planetary system interacts with the stellar wind to form the stellar astrosphere, and regulates the properties of the interplanetary medium and cosmic ray fluxes throughout the system.…
Changes in planetary obliquity, or axial tilt, influence the climates on Earth-like planets. In the solar system, the Earth's obliquity is stabilized due to interactions with our moon and the resulting {small amplitude variations…
We present an assessment of the effects of stellar wind magnetic and mechanical components on the habitability of Earth-like exoplanets orbiting the inner and outer radii of the habitable zone (HZ) of M dwarfs. We consider stars with masses…
A planet orbiting in the "habitable zone" of our closest neighboring star, Proxima Centauri, has recently been discovered, and the next natural question is whether or not Proxima b is "habitable". Stellar winds are likely a source of…