Evidence from the solar system suggests that, unlike Venus and Mars, the presence of a strong magnetic dipole moment on Earth has helped maintain liquid water on its surface. Therefore, […]
habitability
Posted inHabitable Zones, Press Release
Multiverse Predictions for Habitability: Number of Habitable Planets
How good is our universe at making habitable planets? The answer to this depends on which factors are important for life: Does a planet need to be Earth mass? Does […]
Posted inHabitable Zones, Press Release
Albedos, Equilibrium Temperatures, and Surface Temperatures of Habitable Planets
The potential habitability of known exoplanets is often categorized by a nominal equilibrium temperature assuming a Bond albedo of either 0.3, similar to Earth, or 0. As an indicator of […]
Posted inHabitable Zones, Press Release
Life Could Help Atmospheric Tides Slow Planetary Rotation
Resonating oscillations of a planet’s atmosphere caused by gravitational tides and heating from its star could prevent a planet’s rotation from steadily slowing over time, according to new research by […]
Posted inHabitable Zones, Press Release
Thorium in Solar Twins: Implications for Habitability in Rocky Planets
We have investigated the thorium (Th) abundance in a sample of 53 thin disc solar twins covering a wide range of ages. These data provide constrains on the mantle energy […]
Posted inHabitable Zones, Press Release
Methane in Analogs of Young Directly Imaged Exoplanets
We present detections of methane in R of 1300, L band spectra of VHS 1256 b and PSO 318.5, two low gravity, red, late L dwarfs that share the same […]
Posted inAstronomy & Telescopes, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Gaia Mission, Habitable Zones, Press Release
Revised Exoplanet Radii and Habitability Using Gaia Data Release 2
Accurate stellar properties are crucial for determining exoplanet characteristics. Gaia DR2 presents revised distances, luminosities, and radii for 1.6 billion stars. Here, we report the calculation of revised radii and […]
Posted inHabitable Zones, Press Release
Habitability in the Omega Centauri Cluster
The search for exoplanets has encompassed a broad range of stellar environments, from single stars in the solar neighborhood to multiple stars and various open clusters. The stellar environment has […]
Posted inHabitable Zones, Press Release
The Inner Solar System's Habitability Through Time
Earth, Mars, and Venus, irradiated by an evolving Sun, have had fascinating but diverging histories of habitability. Although only Earth’s surface is considered to be habitable today, all three planets […]
Posted inHabitable Zones, Press Release
Is Extraterrestrial Life Suppressed On Subsurface Ocean Worlds Due To The Paucity Of Bioessential Elements?
The availability of bioessential elements for “life as we know it”, such as phosphorus (P) or possibly molybdenum (Mo), is expected to restrict the biological productivity of extraterrestrial biospheres. Here, […]