Abstract
Habitable planets are likely to exist around stars nottoo different from the Sun if current theories about terrestrialclimate evolution are correct. Some of these planets may have evolved life, and some of the inhabited planets may have evolved O2-rich atmospheres. Such atmospheres could be detectedspectroscopically on planets around nearby stars using a space-based interferometer to search for the 9.6μm band of O3.Planets with O2-rich atmospheres that lie within the habitable zone around their parent star are, in all probability, inhabited.
Article PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
Avoid common mistakes on your manuscript.
References
Angel, J. R. P. and Woolf, N. J.: 1996, Scientific American (April), 60–66.
Brack, A.: 1993, Origins Life Evol. Biosphere 23, 3–10.
Cochran, W. D., Hatzes, A. P. and Hancock, T. J.: 1991, Astrophys. J. 380, L35–L38.
Donahue, T. M., Hoffman, J. H. and Hodges, R. R., Jr.: 1982, Science 216, 630–633.
Gatewood, G.: 1996, Bull. American Astron. Soc. 28, 885.
Gilliland, R. L.: 1989, Global Planet. Change 1, 35–55.
Gough, D. O.: 1981, Solar Phys. 74, 21–34.
Gurwell, M.: 1995, Nature 378, 22–23.
Hart, M. H.: 1978, Icarus 33, 23–39.
Hart, M. H.: 1979, Icarus 37, 351–357.
Hauser, H., Shirts, P., Marcy, G. W. and Butler, R. P.: 1996, poster paper, ASP meeting, Santa Clara, June 24–26.
Holland, H. D.: 1978, The Chemistry of the Atmosphere and Oceans, Wiley, New York.
Holland, H. D.: 1994, Early Life on Earth, Columbia University Press, New York, pp. 237–244.
Hunten, D. M.: 1973, J. Atmos. Sci. 30, 1481–1494.
Kasting, J. F.: 1987, Precambrian Res. 34, 205–229.
Kasting, J. F.: 1988, Icarus 74, 472–494.
Kasting, J. F.: 1990, Origins Life Evol. Biosphere 20, 199–231.
Kasting, J. F.: 1991, Icarus 94, 1–13.
Kasting, J. F.: 1993, Science 259, 920–926.
Kasting, J. F. and Ackerman, T. P.: 1986, Science 234, 1383–1385.
Kasting, J. F. and Brown, L. L.: 1996, in A. Brack (ed.), The Molecular Origins of Life: Assembling the Pieces of the Puzzle, Cambridge University Press, New York, (in press).
Kasting, J. F. and Donahue, T. M.: 1980, J. Geophys. Res. 85, 3255–3263.
Kasting, J. F., Holland, H. D. and Pinto, J. P.: 1985, J. Geophys. Res. 90, 10,497–10,510.
Kasting, J. F., Pollack, J. B. and Crisp, D.: 1984, J. Atmos. Chem. 1, 403–428.
Kasting, J. F. and Toon, O. B.: 1989, in S. K. Atreya, J. B. Pollack and M. S. Matthews (eds.), Origin and Evolution of Planetary and Satellite Atmospheres, University of Arizona Press, Tucson, Arizona, pp. 423–449.
Kasting, J. F., Toon, O. B. and Pollack, J. B.: 1988, Scientific American 256, 90–97.
Kasting, J. F., Whitmire, D. P. and Reynolds, R. T.: 1993, Icarus 101, 108–128.
Kasting, J. F., Whittet, D. C. B. and Sheldon, W. R.: 1996, Origins Life Evol. Biosphere, submitted.
Leger, A., Pirre, M. and Marceau, F. J.: 1993, Astron. Astrophys. 277, 309–313.
Levine, J. S., Hays, P. B. and Walker, J. C. G.: 1979, Icarus 39, 295–309.
Lovelock, J. E.: 1965, Nature 207, 568–570.
Lovelock, J. E.: 1979, Gaia: A New Look at Life on Earth, Oxford University Press, Oxford.
Lovelock, J. E.: 1988, The Ages of Gaia, W. W. Norton, New York.
Mayor, M. and Queloz, D.: 1995, Nature 378, 355–359.
McElroy, M. B.: 1972, Science 175, 443–445.
McKay, D. S., Gibson, E. K., Thomas-Keprta, L., Vali, H., Romanek, C. S., Clemett, S. J., Chillier, X. D. F., Maechling, C. R. and Zare, R. N.: 1996, Science 273, 924–930.
Melosh, H. J. and Vickery, A. M.: 1989, Nature 338, 487–489.
Owen, T.: 1980, in M. D. Papagiannis, (ed.), Strategies for the Search for Life in the Universe, Reidel, Dordrecht.
Owen, T., Cess, R. D. and Ramanathan, V.: 1979, Nature 277, 640–642.
Rasool, S. I. and DeBergh, C.: 1970, Nature 226, 1037–1039.
Rossow, W. B., Henderson-Sellers, A. and Weinrich, S. K.: 1982, Science 217, 1245–1247.
Rye, R., Kuo, P. H. and Holland, H. D.: 1995, Nature 378, 603–605.
Sagan, C. and Mullen G.: 1972, Science 177, 52–56.
Sagan, C., Thompson, W. R., Carlson, R., Gurnett, D. and Hord, C.: 1993, Nature 365, 715–721.
Schopf, J.W.: 1983, Earth's Earliest Biosphere: Its Origin and Evolution, Princeton University Press, Princeton, New Jersey.
Schwartzman, D. W. and Volk, T.: 1989, Nature 340, 457–460.
Sharp, M., Tranter, M., Brown, G. H. and Skidmore, M.: 1995, Geology 23, 61–64.
Squyres, S. W. and Kasting, J. F.: 1994, Science 265, 744–749.
Walker, J. C. G.: 1977, Evolution of the Atmosphere, MacMillan, New York.
Walker, J. C. G., Hays, P. B. and Kasting, J. F.: 1981, J. Geophys. Res. 86, 9776–9782.
Williams, D. M., Kasting, J. F. and Wade, R. A.: 1996, Nature, submitted.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Kasting, J.F. HABITABLE ZONES AROUND LOW MASS STARS AND THE SEARCH FOR EXTRATERRESTRIAL LIFE. Orig Life Evol Biosph 27, 291–307 (1997). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1006586517202
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1006586517202