SMuK 2021 – wissenschaftliches Programm

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SYEP: Symposium What makes an exoplanet habitable

SYEP 1: What makes an exoplanet habitable

SYEP 1.4: Hauptvortrag

Mittwoch, 1. September 2021, 15:30–16:00, Audimax

Habitable zones around stars and the search for extraterrestrial life — •James F. Kasting — Penn State University, University Park, PA USA

All life on Earth depends on liquid water during at least part of its existence, and it is conservative to assume that life elsewhere has this same requirement. To be detectable remotely, life must also be able to colonize the surface of a planet so that it can modify the planet's atmosphere to an extent that would be detectable from a great distance. Hence, the habitable zone (HZ) around a star is typically defined as the region within which a rocky planet can support liquid water on its surface. The tools needed to estimate the boundaries of the HZ are those of meteorology: 1-D and 3-D climate models. I will discuss the current state of the art in HZ climate modeling, as well as future space telescopes that should eventually allow us to look for habitable planets around nearby stars and use spectroscopy to determine whether they are actually inhabited. NASA's James Webb Space Telescope, which launches in October, 2021, may be able to perform transit spectroscopy on some rocky planets orbiting M stars. Direct imaging of rocky planets around more Sun-like stars will require direct imaging space telescopes such as NASA's LUVOIR or HabEx, or ESA's LIFE (Large Interferometer for Exoplanets).