([[Kepler-62e]], [[Kepler-62f]], [[Kepler-186f]], [[Kepler-296e]], [[Kepler-296f]], [[Kepler-438b]], [[Kepler-440b]], [[Kepler-442b]]) (Kepler Space Telescope; January 6, 2015).{{cite web |last1=Clavin |first1=Whitney |last2=Chou |first2=Felicia |last3=Johnson |first3=Michele |title=NASA's Kepler Marks 1,000th Exoplanet Discovery, Uncovers More Small Worlds in Habitable Zones |url=http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?release=2015-003 |date=6 January 2015 |work=[[NASA]] |access-date=6 January 2015 }}"}},"i":0}}]}" id="mwA-E">Confirmed small exoplanets in habitable zones. (Kepler-62e, Kepler-62f, Kepler-186f, Kepler-296e, Kepler-296f, Kepler-438b, Kepler-440b, Kepler-442b) (Kepler Space Telescope; January 6, 2015).[165]
Habitability outside the CHZ
The discovery of hydrocarbon lakes on Saturn's moon Titan has begun to call into question the carbon chauvinism that underpins CHZ concept.
Liquid-water environments have been found to exist in the absence of atmospheric pressure and at temperatures outside the CHZ temperature range. For example, Saturn's moons Titan and Enceladus and Jupiter's moons Europa and Ganymede, all of which are outside the habitable zone, may hold large volumes of liquid water in subsurface oceans.[179]
Outside the CHZ, tidal heating and radioactive decay are two possible heat sources that could contribute to the existence of liquid water.[16][17] Abbot and Switzer (2011) put forward the possibility that subsurface water could exist on rogue planets as a result of radioactive decay-based heating and insulation by a thick surface layer of ice.[19]
With some theorising that life on Earth may have actually originated in stable, subsurface habitats,[180][181] it has been suggested that it may be common for wet subsurface extraterrestrial habitats such as these to 'teem with life'.[182] On Earth itself, living organisms may be found more than 6km (3.7mi) below the surface.[183]
Another possibility is that outside the CHZ organisms may use alternative biochemistries that do not require water at all. Astrobiologist Christopher McKay, has suggested that methane (CH 4) may be a solvent conducive to the development of "cryolife", with the Sun's "methane habitable zone" being centered on 1,610,000,000km (1.0×109mi; 11AU) from the star.[22] This distance is coincident with the location of Titan, whose lakes and rain of methane make it an ideal location to find McKay's proposed cryolife.[22] In addition, testing of a number of organisms has found some are capable of surviving in extra-CHZ conditions.[184]
Significance for complex and intelligent life
The Rare Earth hypothesis argues that complex and intelligent life is uncommon and that the CHZ is one of many critical factors. According to Ward & Brownlee (2004) and others, not only is a CHZ orbit and surface water a primary requirement to sustain life but a requirement to support the secondary conditions required for multicellular life to emerge and evolve. The secondary habitability factors are both geological (the role of surface water in sustaining necessary plate tectonics)[34] and biochemical (the role of radiant energy in supporting photosynthesis for necessary atmospheric oxygenation).[185] But others, such as Ian Stewart and Jack Cohen in their 2002 book Evolving the Alien argue that complex intelligent life may arise outside the CHZ.[186] Intelligent life outside the CHZ may have evolved in subsurface environments, from alternative biochemistries[186] or even from nuclear reactions.[187]
On Earth, several complex multicellular life forms (or eukaryotes) have been identified with the potential to survive conditions that might exist outside the conservative habitable zone. Geothermal energy sustains ancient circumvent ecosystems, supporting large complex life forms such as Riftia pachyptila.[188] Similar environments may be found in oceans pressurised beneath solid crusts, such as those of Europa and Enceladus, outside of the habitable zone.[189]Numerous microorganisms have been tested in simulated conditions and in low Earth orbit, including eukaryotes. An animal example is the Milnesium tardigradum, which can withstand extreme temperatures well above the boiling point of water and the cold vacuum of outer space.[190] In addition, the lichens Rhizocarpon geographicum and Xanthoria elegans have been found to survive in an environment where the atmospheric pressure is far too low for surface liquid water and where the radiant energy is also much lower than that which most plants require to photosynthesize.[191][192][193] The fungi Cryomyces antarcticus and Cryomyces minteri are also able to survive and reproduce in Mars-like conditions.[193]
Species, including humans, known to possess animal cognition require large amounts of energy,[194] and have adapted to specific conditions, including an abundance of atmospheric oxygen and the availability of large quantities of chemical energy synthesized from radiant energy. If humans are to colonize other planets, true Earth analogs in the CHZ are most likely to provide the closest natural habitat; this concept was the basis of Stephen H. Dole's 1964 study. With suitable temperature, gravity, atmospheric pressure and the presence of water, the necessity of spacesuits or space habitat analogs on the surface may be eliminated, and complex Earth life can thrive.[2]
Planets in the CHZ remain of paramount interest to researchers looking for intelligent life elsewhere in the universe.[195] The Drake equation, sometimes used to estimate the number of intelligent civilizations in our galaxy, contains the factor or parameter ne, which is the average number of planetary-mass objects orbiting within the CHZ of each star. A low value lends support to the Rare Earth hypothesis, which posits that intelligent life is a rarity in the Universe, whereas a high value provides evidence for the Copernicanmediocrity principle, the view that habitability—and therefore life—is common throughout the Universe.[34] A 1971 NASA report by Drake and Bernard Oliver proposed the "water hole", based on the spectral absorption lines of the hydrogen and hydroxyl components of water, as a good, obvious band for communication with extraterrestrial intelligence[196][197] that has since been widely adopted by astronomers involved in the search for extraterrestrial intelligence. According to Jill Tarter, Margaret Turnbull and many others, CHZ candidates are the priority targets to narrow waterhole searches[198][199] and the Allen Telescope Array now extends Project Phoenix to such candidates.[200]
Because the CHZ is considered the most likely habitat for intelligent life, METI efforts have also been focused on systems likely to have planets there. The 2001 Teen Age Message and 2003 Cosmic Call 2, for example, were sent to the 47 Ursae Majoris system, known to contain three Jupiter-mass planets and possibly with a terrestrial planet in the CHZ.[201][202][203][204] The Teen Age Message was also directed to the 55 Cancri system, which has a gas giant in its CHZ.[133] A Message from Earth in 2008,[205] and Hello From Earth in 2009, were directed to the Gliese 581 system, containing three planets in the CHZ—Gliese 581 c, d, and the unconfirmed g.
An exoplanet or extrasolar planet is a planet outside the Solar System. The first possible evidence of an exoplanet was noted in 1917, but was not recognized as such. The first confirmation of the detection occurred in 1992. A different planet, initially detected in 1988, was confirmed in 2003. As of 1 September 2023, there are 5,506 confirmed exoplanets in 4,065 planetary systems, with 878 systems having more than one planet. The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is expected to discover more exoplanets, and also much more about exoplanets, including composition, environmental conditions and potential for life.
A planetary system is a set of gravitationally bound non-stellar objects in or out of orbit around a star or star system. Generally speaking, systems with one or more planets constitute a planetary system, although such systems may also consist of bodies such as dwarf planets, asteroids, natural satellites, meteoroids, comets, planetesimals and circumstellar disks. The Sun together with the planetary system revolving around it, including Earth, forms the Solar System. The term exoplanetary system is sometimes used in reference to other planetary systems.
An exomoon or extrasolar moon is a natural satellite that orbits an exoplanet or other non-stellar extrasolar body.
An ocean world, ocean planet, panthalassic planet, maritime world, water world or aquaplanet, is a type of planet that contains a substantial amount of water in the form of oceans, as part of its hydrosphere, either beneath the surface, as subsurface oceans, or on the surface, potentially submerging all dry land. The term ocean world is also used sometimes for astronomical bodies with an ocean composed of a different fluid or thalassogen, such as lava, ammonia or hydrocarbons. The study of extraterrestrial oceans is referred to as planetary oceanography.
Gliese 581d was a candidate extrasolar planet orbiting within the Gliese 581 system, approximately 20.4 light-years away in the Libra constellation. It was the third planet claimed in the system and the fourth or fifth in order from the star. Multiple subsequent studies found that the planetary signal in fact originates from stellar activity, and thus the planet does not exist.
A Super-Earth is a type of exoplanet with a mass higher than Earth's, but substantially below those of the Solar System's ice giants, Uranus and Neptune, which are 14.5 and 17 times Earth's, respectively. The term "super-Earth" refers only to the mass of the planet, and so does not imply anything about the surface conditions or habitability. The alternative term "gas dwarfs" may be more accurate for those at the higher end of the mass scale, although "mini-Neptunes" is a more common term.
The habitability of natural satellites describes the study of a moon's potential to provide habitats for life, though is not an indicator that it harbors it. Natural satellites are expected to outnumber planets by a large margin and the study is therefore important to astrobiology and the search for extraterrestrial life. There are, nevertheless, significant environmental variables specific to moons.
An exoplanet is a planet located outside the Solar System. The first evidence of an exoplanet was noted as early as 1917, but was not recognized as such until 2016; no planet discovery has yet come from that evidence. What turned out to be the first detection of an exoplanet was published among a list of possible candidates in 1988, though not confirmed until 2003. The first confirmed detection came in 1992, with the discovery of terrestrial-mass planets orbiting the pulsar PSR B1257+12. The first confirmation of an exoplanet orbiting a main-sequence star was made in 1995, when a giant planet was found in a four-day orbit around the nearby star 51 Pegasi. Some exoplanets have been imaged directly by telescopes, but the vast majority have been detected through indirect methods, such as the transit method and the radial-velocity method. As of 1 September 2023, there are 5,506 confirmed exoplanets in 4,065 planetary systems, with 878 systems having more than one planet. This is a list of the most notable discoveries.
K-type main-sequence stars, also known as orange dwarfs, may be candidates for supporting extraterrestrial life. These stars are known as "Goldilocks stars" as they emit enough radiation in the non-UV ray spectrum to provide a temperature that allows liquid water to exist on the surface of a planet; they also remain stable in the main sequence longer than the Sun by burning their hydrogen slower, allowing more time for life to form on a planet around a K-type main-sequence star. The planet's habitable zone, ranging from 0.1–0.4 to 0.3–1.3 astronomical units (AU), depending on the size of the star, is often far enough from the star so as not to be tidally locked to the star, and to have a sufficiently low solar flare activity not to be lethal to life. In comparison, red dwarf stars have too much solar activity and quickly tidally lock the planets in their habitable zones, making them less suitable for life. The odds of complex life arising may be better on planets around K-type main-sequence stars than around Sun-like stars, given the suitable temperature and extra time available for it to evolve. Some planets around K-type main-sequence stars are potential candidates for extraterrestrial life.
Kepler-62 is a K-type main sequence star cooler and smaller than the Sun, located roughly 980 light-years from Earth in the constellation Lyra. It resides within the field of vision of the Kepler spacecraft, the satellite that NASA's Kepler Mission used to detect planets that may be transiting their stars. On April 18, 2013, it was announced that the star has five planets, two of which, Kepler-62e and Kepler-62f are within the star's habitable zone. The outermost, Kepler-62f, is likely a rocky planet.
Kepler-62f is a super-Earth exoplanet orbiting within the habitable zone of the star Kepler-62, the outermost of five such planets discovered around the star by NASA's Kepler spacecraft. It is located about 980 light-years from Earth in the constellation of Lyra.
The theorized habitability of red dwarf systems is determined by a large number of factors. Modern evidence indicates that planets in red dwarf systems are unlikely to be habitable, due to their low stellar flux, high probability of tidal locking and thus likely lack of magnetospheres and atmospheres, small circumstellar habitable zones and the high stellar variation experienced by planets of red dwarf stars, impeding their planetary habitability. However, the ubiquity and longevity of red dwarfs could provide ample opportunity to realize any small possibility of habitability.
Kepler-186f is an Earth-sized exoplanet orbiting within the habitable zone of the red dwarf star Kepler-186, the outermost of five such planets discovered around the star by NASA's Kepler spacecraft. It is located about 580 light-years from Earth in the constellation of Cygnus.
Kepler-438b is a confirmed near-Earth-sized exoplanet. It is likely rocky. It orbits on the inner edge of the habitable zone of a red dwarf, Kepler-438, about 472.9 light-years from Earth in the constellation Lyra. It receives 1.4 times our solar flux. The planet was discovered by NASA's Kepler spacecraft using the transit method, in which the dimming effect that a planet causes as it crosses in front of its star is measured. NASA announced the confirmation of the exoplanet on 6 January 2015.
Kepler-1229b is a confirmed super-Earth exoplanet, likely rocky, orbiting within the habitable zone of the red dwarf Kepler-1229, located about 870 light years from Earth in the constellation of Cygnus. It was discovered in 2016 by the Kepler space telescope. The exoplanet was found by using the transit method, in which the dimming effect that a planet causes as it crosses in front of its star is measured.
K2-155d is a potentially habitable Super-Earth exoplanet in the K2-155 system. It is the outermost of three known planets orbiting around the K-type star K2-155 in the constellation Taurus. It is one of 15 new exoplanets around red dwarf stars discovered by Japanese astronomer "Teruyuki Hirano" of the Tokyo Institute of Technology and his team. The team used data from NASA's Kepler Space Telescope during its extended K2 "Second Light" mission. K2-155d orbits near the so-called habitable zone of its system, and has the potential to host liquid water.
Kepler-1649c is an Earth-sized exoplanet, likely rocky, orbiting within the habitable zone of the red dwarf star Kepler-1649, the outermost planet of the planetary system discovered by Kepler’s space telescope. It is located about 301 light-years (92 pc) away from Earth, in the constellation of Cygnus.
References
↑ Su-Shu Huang, American Scientist 47, 3, pp. 397–402 (1959)
↑ Schirber, Michael (26 Oct 2009). "Detecting Life-Friendly Moons". Astrobiology Magazine. NASA. Archived from the original on 29 October 2009. Retrieved 9 May 2013.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
↑ Lorenz, Ralph (2019). Exploring Planetary Climate: A History of Scientific Discovery on Earth, Mars, Venus and Titan. Cambridge University Press. p.53. ISBN978-1108471541.
1 2 3 No one agrees what it means for a planet to be "habitable". Neel V. Patel, MIT Technology Review. 2 October 2019. Quote: surface conditions are dependent on a host of different individual properties of that planet, such as internal and geological processes, magnetic field evolution, climate, atmospheric escape, rotational effects, tidal forces, orbits, star formation and evolution, unusual conditions like binary star systems, and gravitational perturbations from passing bodies.
1 2 Fogg, M. J. (1992). "An Estimate of the Prevalence of Biocompatible and Habitable Planets". Journal of the British Interplanetary Society. 45 (1): 3–12. Bibcode:1992JBIS...45....3F. PMID11539465.
↑ Scully, Jennifer E.C.; Russell, Christopher T.; Yin, An; Jaumann, Ralf; Carey, Elizabeth; Castillo-Rogez, Julie; McSween, Harry Y.; Raymond, Carol A.; Reddy, Vishnu; Le Corre, Lucille (2015). "Geomorphological evidence for transient water flow on Vesta". Earth and Planetary Science Letters. 411: 151–163. Bibcode:2015E&PSL.411..151S. doi:10.1016/j.epsl.2014.12.004. ISSN0012-821X.
1 2 Franck, S.; von Bloh, W.; Bounama, C.; Steffen, M.; Schönberner, D.; Schellnhuber, H.-J. (2002). "Habitable Zones and the Number of Gaia's Sisters"(PDF). In Montesinos, Benjamin; Giménez, Alvaro; Guinan, Edward F. (eds.). ASP Conference Series. The Evolving Sun and its Influence on Planetary Environments. Astronomical Society of the Pacific. pp.261–272. Bibcode:2002ASPC..269..261F. ISBN1-58381-109-5. Retrieved April 26, 2013.
↑ Becquerel P. (1950). "La suspension de la vie au dessous de 1/20 K absolu par demagnetization adiabatique de l'alun de fer dans le vide les plus eléve". C. R. Acad. Sci. Paris (in French). 231: 261–263.
↑ Horikawa, Daiki D. (2012). "Survival of Tardigrades in Extreme Environments: A Model Animal for Astrobiology". In Alexander V. Altenbach, Joan M. Bernhard & Joseph Seckbach (ed.). Anoxia Evidence for Eukaryote Survival and Paleontological Strategies. Cellular Origin, Life in Extreme Habitats and Astrobiology. Vol.21 (21ed.). Springer Netherlands. pp.205–217. doi:10.1007/978-94-007-1896-8_12. ISBN978-94-007-1895-1.
↑ Butler, R. P.; Wright, J. T.; Marcy, G. W.; Fischer, D. A.; Vogt, S. S.; Tinney, C. G.; Jones, H. R. A.; Carter, B. D.; Johnson, J. A.; McCarthy, C.; Penny, A. J. (2006). "Catalog of Nearby Exoplanets". The Astrophysical Journal. 646 (1): 505–522. arXiv:astro-ph/0607493. Bibcode:2006ApJ...646..505B. doi:10.1086/504701. S2CID119067572.
↑ Scharf, Caleb A. (2011-12-08). "You Can't Always Tell an Exoplanet by Its Size". Scientific American. Retrieved 2012-09-20.: "If it [Kepler-22b] had a similar composition to Earth, then we're looking at a world in excess of about 40 Earth masses".
↑ Anglada-Escude, Guillem; Arriagada, Pamela; Vogt, Steven; Rivera, Eugenio J.; Butler, R. Paul; Crane, Jeffrey D.; Shectman, Stephen A.; Thompson, Ian B.; Minniti, Dante (2012). "A planetary system around the nearby M dwarf GJ 667C with at least one super-Earth in its habitable zone". The Astrophysical Journal. 751 (1): L16. arXiv:1202.0446. Bibcode:2012ApJ...751L..16A. doi:10.1088/2041-8205/751/1/L16. S2CID16531923.
↑ Tuomi, Mikko; Anglada-Escudé, Guillem; Gerlach, Enrico; Jones, Hugh R. A.; Reiners, Ansgar; Rivera, Eugenio J.; Vogt, Steven S.; Butler, R. Paul (17 December 2012). "Habitable-zone super-Earth candidate in a six-planet system around the K2.5V star HD 40307". Astronomy & Astrophysics. 549: A48. arXiv:1211.1617. Bibcode:2013A&A...549A..48T. doi:10.1051/0004-6361/201220268. S2CID7424216.
↑ Tuomi, M.; Jones, H. R. A.; Jenkins, J. S.; Tinney, C. G.; Butler, R. P.; Vogt, S. S.; Barnes, J. R.; Wittenmyer, R. A.; o'Toole, S.; Horner, J.; Bailey, J.; Carter, B. D.; Wright, D. J.; Salter, G. S.; Pinfield, D. (2013). "Signals embedded in the radial velocity noise". Astronomy & Astrophysics. 551: A79. arXiv:1212.4277. Bibcode:2013A&A...551A..79T. doi:10.1051/0004-6361/201220509. S2CID2390534.
↑ Barclay, Thomas; Burke, Christopher J.; Howell, Steve B.; Rowe, Jason F.; Huber, Daniel; Isaacson, Howard; Jenkins, Jon M.; Kolbl, Rea; Marcy, Geoffrey W. (2013). "A Super-Earth-Sized Planet Orbiting in or Near the Habitable Zone Around a Sun-Like Star". The Astrophysical Journal. 768 (2): 101. arXiv:1304.4941. Bibcode:2013ApJ...768..101B. doi:10.1088/0004-637X/768/2/101. S2CID51490784.
↑ Jenkins, Jon M.; Twicken, Joseph D.; Batalha, Natalie M.; Caldwell, Douglas A.; Cochran, William D.; Endl, Michael; Latham, David W.; Esquerdo, Gilbert A.; Seader, Shawn; Bieryla, Allyson; Petigura, Erik; Ciardi, David R.; Marcy, Geoffrey W.; Isaacson, Howard; Huber, Daniel; Rowe, Jason F.; Torres, Guillermo; Bryson, Stephen T.; Buchhave, Lars; Ramirez, Ivan; Wolfgang, Angie; Li, Jie; Campbell, Jennifer R.; Tenenbaum, Peter; Sanderfer, Dwight; Henze, Christopher E.; Catanzarite, Joseph H.; Gilliland, Ronald L.; Borucki, William J. (23 July 2015). "Discovery and Validation of Kepler-452b: A 1.6 R🜨 Super Earth Exoplanet in the Habitable Zone of a G2 Star". The Astronomical Journal. 150 (2): 56. arXiv:1507.06723. Bibcode:2015AJ....150...56J. doi:10.1088/0004-6256/150/2/56. ISSN1538-3881. S2CID26447864.
↑ Nicholson, W. L.; Moeller, R.; Horneck, G.; PROTECT Team (2012). "Transcriptomic Responses of Germinating Bacillus subtilis Spores Exposed to 1.5 Years of Space and Simulated Martian Conditions on the EXPOSE-E Experiment PROTECT". Astrobiology. 12 (5): 469–86. Bibcode:2012AsBio..12..469N. doi:10.1089/ast.2011.0748. PMID22680693.
↑ Zaitsev, A. L. (June 2004). "Transmission and reasonable signal searches in the Universe"(PDF). Horizons of the UniverseПередача и поиски разумных сигналов во Вселенной. Plenary presentation at the National Astronomical Conference WAC-2004 "Horizons of the Universe", Moscow, Moscow State University, June 7, 2004 (in Russian). Moscow. Archived from the original on 2019-05-30. Retrieved 2013-06-30.
↑ David Grinspoon (July 13, 2012) [December 12, 2007]. "Who Speaks for Earth?". Seed. Archived from the original on 2012-07-13. Retrieved 2021-06-24.{{cite magazine}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.