How long might a rocky, Mars-like planet be habitable if it were orbiting a red dwarf star? It’s a complex question but one that NASA’s Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution […]
extrasolar
Posted inExoplanets, -moons, -comets, Habitable Zones, Press Release
Carbon Cycling and Habitability of Earth-size Stagnant Lid Planets
Models of thermal evolution, crustal production, and CO2 cycling are used to constrain the prospects for habitability of rocky planets, with Earth-like size and composition, in the stagnant lid regime. […]
Posted inExoplanets, -moons, -comets
Two Super-Earths Orbit Star K2-18
New research using data collected by the European Southern Observatory (ESO) has revealed that a little-known exoplanet called K2-18b could well be a scaled-up version of Earth. Just as exciting, […]
Posted inHabitable Zones, Press Release, Proxima Centauri
The Answer to Planetary Habitability Is Blowing in the Stellar Wind
Is there life beyond Earth in the cosmos? Astronomers looking for signs have found that our Milky Way galaxy teems with exoplanets, some with conditions that could be right for […]
Posted inHabitable Zones, Press Release, TRAPPIST-1
Stratosphere Circulation On Tidally Locked ExoEarths
Stratosphere circulation is important to interpret abundances of photo-chemically produced compounds like ozone that we aim to observe to assess habitability of exoplanets. We thus investigate a tidally locked ExoEarth […]
Posted inExoplanets, -moons, -comets, Press Release
Secondary Atmospheres On HD 219134 b and c
We analyze the interiors of HD~219134~b and c, which are among the coolest super Earths detected thus far. Without using spectroscopic measurements, we aim at constraining if the possible atmospheres […]
Posted inExoplanets, -moons, -comets, Press Release
Influence of XUV Irradiation from Sgr A* on Planetary Habitability and Occurrence of Panspermia near the Galactic Center
Black holes growing via the accretion of gas emit radiation that can photoevaporate the atmospheres of nearby planets. Here we couple planetary structural evolution models of sub-Neptune mass planets to […]
Posted inExoplanets, -moons, -comets, Habitable Zones, Press Release
Whole Planet Coupling Between Climate, Mantle, and Core: Implications for Evolution of Rocky Planets
Earth’s climate, mantle, and core interact over geologic timescales. Climate influences whether plate tectonics can take place on a planet, with cool climates being favorable for plate tectonics because they […]
Posted inAstronomy & Telescopes, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Press Release, TRAPPIST-1
Planet-Planet Occultations in TRAPPIST-1 and Other Exoplanet Systems
We explore the occurrence and detectability of planet-planet occultations (PPOs) in exoplanet systems. These are events during which a planet occults the disk of another planet in the same system, […]
Posted inExoplanets, -moons, -comets, Press Release
Closest Temperate World Orbiting A Quiet Star Discovered
A team working with ESO’s High Accuracy Radial velocity Planet Searcher (HARPS) at the La Silla Observatory in Chile has found that the red dwarf star Ross 128 is orbited […]