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Tidal heating of exomoons may play a key role in their habitability, since the elevated temperature can melt the ice on the body even without significant solar radiation. The possibility of life is intensely studied on Solar System moons…
The habitability of terrestrial exoplanets orbiting M dwarfs is a key topic in the search for extraterrestrial life. The climates of these planets differ significantly from the Earth's due to their likely tidal locking, resulting in a…
The ongoing discoveries of extrasolar planets are unveiling a wide range of terrestrial mass (size) planets around their host stars. In this letter, we present estimates of habitable zones (HZs) around stars with stellar effective…
With the use of the appropriate technology, such as photovoltaics and seawater desalination, humans have the ability to sustainably increase their production of food and energy while minimising detrimental impacts on the Earth system.
Inhibiting ice accumulation on surfaces is an energy-intensive task and is of significant importance in nature and technology where it has found applications in windshields, automobiles, aviation, renewable energy generation, and…
Ozone is an important radiative trace gas in the Earth's atmosphere. The presence of ozone can significantly influence the thermal structure of an atmosphere, and by this e.g. cloud formation. Photochemical studies suggest that ozone can…
The liquid water habitable zone (HZ) describes the orbital distance at which a terrestrial planet can maintain above-freezing conditions through regulation by the carbonate-silicate cycle. Recent calculations have suggested that planets in…
Photosynthesis is central to Earth's biosphere and a prime candidate for sustaining complex life on habitable exoplanets, yet a thermodynamically consistent treatment of the work potential of stellar radiation at planetary surfaces is still…
Feedbacks that can destabilize the climates of synchronously-rotating rocky planets may arise on planets with strong day-night surface temperature contrasts. Earth-like habitable-zone (HZ) planets maintain stable surface liquid water over…
In the present article, performance of a glazed photovoltaic thermal system integrated with phase change materials (GPVT/PCM) is numerically examined based on both energy and exergy viewpoints. The effect of PCM volumetric fraction and…
We use the sample of known stars and brown dwarfs within 5 pc of the Sun, supplemented with AFGK stars within 10 pc, to determine which stellar spectral types provide the most habitable real estate --- defined to be locations where liquid…
Understanding the surface and atmospheric conditions of Earth-size, rocky planets in the habitable zones (HZs) of low-mass stars is currently one of the greatest astronomical endeavors. Knowledge of the planetary effective surface…
Indoor heating during winters accounts for a significant portion of energy consumed by buildings in regions of cold climate. Development of transparent coatings for windows that efficiently harvest solar energy can play a major role in…
This paper provides the simulated floating zone (SFZ) method that is an efficient simulation technique to obtain thermal equilibrium states, especially useful when domain formation prevents the system from reaching a spatially-uniform…
A novel electronic film solar energy concentrator with embedded micro-mirrors that track the sun is described. The potential viability of this new concept is presented. Due to miniaturization, the amount of material needed for the optical…
The tidal heating of hypothetical rocky (or terrestrial) extra-solar planets spans a wide range of values depending on stellar masses and initial orbits. Tidal heating may be sufficiently large (in many cases, in excess of radiogenic…
The mean surface temperature on Earth and other planets with atmospheres is determined by the radiative balance between the non-reflected incoming solar radiation and the outgoing long-wave black-body radiation from the atmosphere. The…
Earth-scale planets in the classical habitable zone (HZ) are more likely to be habitable if they possess active geophysics. Without a constant internal energy source, planets cool as they age, eventually terminating tectonic activity and…
The "edge" of the Antarctic polar vortex is known to behave as a barrier to the meridional (poleward) transport of ozone during the austral winter. This chemical isolation of the polar vortex from the middle and low latitudes produces an…
The authors suggest a low cost closed AB-Dome, which may protect small cities such as Sederot from rockets, mortar shells, chemical and biological weapons. The offered AB-Dome is also very useful in peacetime because it protects the city…