Abstract
In this paper, we estimate the likelihood to find habitable Earth-like planets on stable orbits for the extrasolar planetary systems εe Eridani, 55 Cancri, 47 Ursae Majoris, and ρ Coronae Borealis and provide a new tool to assess habitability of extrasolar planetary systems. For determining the habitable zone in these systems an integrated system approach is used taking into account a variety of climatological, biogeochemical, and geodynamical processes. Habitability is linked to the photosynthetic activity on the planetary surface. We find that habitability strongly depends on the age of the stellar system and the characteristics of the Earth-like planet. In particular the portion of land/ocean coverages plays an important role. In general, a high percentage of ocean area significantly increases the probability for habitability of planets on stable orbits in extrasolar planetary systems. We show that the systems ε Eridani and 55 Cancri are most promising to find dynamic habitable Earth-like planets, while the system ρ Coronae Borealis is most unpromising.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Bada, J. L.: 2004, How life began on Earth: a status report’, Earth Planet. Sci. Lett. 226, 1–15.
Berner, R. A., Lasaga, A. C. and Garrels, R. M.: 1983, ‘The carbonate-silicate geochemical cycle and its effect on atmospheric carbon dioxide over the past 100 million years’, Am. J. Sci. 283, 641–683.
Caldeira, K. and Kasting, J. F.: 1992, ‘The life span of the biosphere revisited’, Nature 360, 721–723.
Chambers, J. E.: 1999, ‘A hybrid symplectic integrator that permits close encounters between massive bodies’, MNRAS 305, 793–799.
Cuntz, M., von Bloh, W., Bounama, C. and Franck, S.: 2003, On the possibility of Earth-type habitable planets around 47 UMa’, Icarus 162, 214–221.
Forget, F. and Pierrehumbert, R. T.: 1997, ‘Warming early Mars with carbon dioxide clouds that scatter infrared radiation’, Science 278, 1273–1276.
Franck, S., Kossacki, K. and Bounama, C.: 1999, ‘Modelling the global carbon cycle for the past and future evolution of the earth system’, Chem. Geol. 159, 305–317.
Franck, S., Block, A., von Bloh, W., Bounama, C., Schellnhuber, H.-J. and Svirezhev, Y.: 2000a. ‘Reduction of biosphere life span as a consequence of geodynamics’, Tellus 52B, 94–107.
Franck, S., von Bloh, W., Bounama, C., Steffen, M., Schönberner, D. and Schellnhuber, H.-J.: 2000b, ‘Determination of habitable zones in extrasolar planetary systems: where are Gaia’s sisters?’, J. Geophys. Res. 105(E1), 1651–1658.
Franck, S., Cuntz, M., von Bloh. W. and Bounama C.: 2003, ‘The habitable zone of Earth-mass planets around 47 UMa: results for land and water worlds’, Int. J. Astrobiol. 2(1), 35–39.
Goździewski, K.: 2002, ‘Stability of the 47 UMa planetary system’, Astron. Astrophys. 393, 997–1013.
Hanslmeier, A. and Dvorak, R.: 1984, ‘Numerical integration with Lie series’, Astron. Astrophys. 132, 203–207.
Hart, M. H.: 1978, ‘The evolution of the atmosphere of the Earth’, Icarus 33, 23–39.
Hart, M. H.: 1979, ‘Habitable zones about main sequence stars’, Icarus 37, 351–357.
Jones, B. W. and Sleep, P. N.: 2003, ‘The orbits of terrestrial planets in the habitable zones of known extrasolar planetary systems’, In: D. Deming and S. Saeger (eds.), Scientific Frontiers in Research on Extrasolar Planets, ASP Confer. Ser. CS-294, pp. 225–230.
Jones, B. W., Sleep, P. N. and Chambers, J. E.: 2001, ‘The stability of the orbits of terrestrial planets in the habitable zones of known exoplanetary systems’, Astron. Astrophys. 366, 254–262.
Kasting, J. F.: 1984, ‘Comments on the BLAG model: the carbonate-silicate geochemical cycle and its effect on atmospheric carbon dioxide over the past 100 million years’, Am. J. Sci. 284, 1175–1182.
Kasting, J. F.: 1997, ‘Habitable zones around low mass stars and the search for extraterrestrial life’, Origins Life 27, 291–307.
Kasting, J. F., Toon, O. B. and Pollack, J. B.: 1988, ‘How climate evolved on the terrestrial planets’, Sci. Am. 256, 90–97.
Kasting, J. F., Whitmire, D. P. and Reynolds, R. T.: 1993, ‘Habitable zones around main sequence stars’, Icarus 101, 108–128.
Kippenhahn, R. and Weigert, A.: 1990, Stellar Structure and Evolution, Springer-Verlag, Berlin, Heidelberg.
Larcher, W.: 1995, Physiological Plant Ecology: Ecophysiology of Functional Groups, Springer-Verlag, New York.
Marcy, G. W. and Butler, R. P.: 2000, ‘Planets orbiting other suns’, Astron. Soc. Pac. 112, 137–140.
Marcy, G. W., Butler, R. P., Fischer, D. A. and Vogt, S. S.: 2003, ‘Properties of extrasolar planets’, In: D. Deming and S. Saeger (eds.), Scientific Frontiers in Research on Extrasolar Planets, ASP Confer. Ser. CS-294, 1–16.
Mischna, M. A., Kasting, J. F., Pavlov, A. and Freedman, R.: 2000, ‘Influence of carbon dioxide clouds on early Martian climate’, Icarus 145, 546–554.
Noyes, R. W., Jha, S., Korzennik, S. G., Krockenberger, M., Nisenson, P., Brown, T. M., Kennelly, E. J. and Horner, S. D.: 1997, ‘A planet orbiting the star ρ Coronae Borealis’, Astrophys. J. 483, L111–L114.
Pearcy, R. W. and Ehleringer, J.: 1984, ‘Comparative ecophysiology of C3 and C4 plants’, Plant Cell Environ. 7, 1–13.
Pilat-Lohinger, E. and Dvorak, R.: 2002, ‘Stability of S-type orbits in binaries’, Celest. Mech. Dyn. Astron. 82, 143–153.
Turcotte, D. C. and Schubert, G.: 1982, Geodynamics, John Wiley, New York.
Volk, T.: 1987, ‘Feedbacks between weathering and atmospheric CO2 over the last 100 million years’, Am. J. Sci. 287, 763–779.
Von Bloh, W., Cuntz, M., Franck, S. and Bounama, C.: 2003, ‘On the possibility of Earth-type habitable planets in the 55 Cancri system, Astrobiology 3(4), 681–688.
Walker, J. C. G., Hays, P. B. and Kasting, J. F.: 1981, ‘A negative feedback mechanism for the long-term stabilization of Earth’s surface temperature’, J. Geophys. Res. 86, 9776–9782.
Wilde, S. A., Valley, J. W., Peck, W. H. and Graham, C. M.: 2002, ‘Evidence from detrital zircons for the existence of continental crust and oceans on the Earth 4.4 Gyr ago’, Nature 409, 175–178.
Williams, D. M.: 1998, The Stability of Habitable Planetary Environments, PhD Dissertation, Pennsylvania State University, University Park.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2005 Springer
About this paper
Cite this paper
von Bloh, W., Bounama, C., Franck, S. (2005). Dynamic Habitability of Extrasolar Planetary Systems. In: Dvorak, R., Ferraz-Mello, S. (eds) A Comparison of the Dynamical Evolution of Planetary Systems. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/1-4020-4466-6_16
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/1-4020-4466-6_16
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-1-4020-4218-8
Online ISBN: 978-1-4020-4466-3
eBook Packages: Physics and AstronomyPhysics and Astronomy (R0)