The Climates of Other Worlds: Searching for the Next Habitable Planet

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

The Climates of Other Worlds: Searching for the Next Habitable Planet The Climates of Other Worlds: Searching for the Next Habitable Planet Aomawa Shields Clare Boothe Luce Assistant Professor Shields Center for Exoplanet Climate and Interdisciplinary Education (SCECIE) University of California, Irvine KITP Friends May 15, 2019 Credit: NASA Radial Velocity (m/s) Velocity Radial Mayor & Queloz 1995 Phase We are in the Earth-sized regime Credit: NASA Credits: NASA Ames / W. Stenzel; Princeton University / T. Morton NASA’s Kepler Mission Transit Technique Credit: NASA Spitzer TESS Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite Credit: George Ricker TESS will identify the best and smallest exoplanet targets for characterization of atmospheres James Webb Space Telescope Starlight filters through the planet’s absorption line spectrum atmosphere Credit: Northrop Grumman • Habitable planet • hosting life? Proxima Centauri b Credit: ESO/M. Kornmesser Credit: NASA-JPL/Caltech LHS 1140b Credit: ESO Which ones do we follow up on? 16 Contact (1997) New era, new approach • Observational data AND computer models NASA + Koshland Science Museum Life’s Requirements A Liquid (H2O) Bioessential Elements (SPONCH) Energy (Stellar or chemical) Photo: Frans La Aomawa Shields The Climates of Other Worlds The Habitable Zone ) Runaway greenhouse Maximum CO2 greenhouse Stellar Mass (M Distance from Star (AU) Snowball Earth Many factors can affect planetary habitability Aomawa Shields The Climates of Other Worlds Galactic Location Composition & Structure Stellar Effects Spectral Liquid water Energy Distribution Planetary Properties Dynamics Surface Atmosphere Interior Aomawa Shields The Climates of Other Worlds Galactic Location Orbital Composition Evolution & Structure Stellar Planetary Effects System Sibling Planets Spectral Liquid water Energy Distribution Planetary Properties Dynamics Surface Atmosphere Credit: Victoria Interior Meadows Aomawa Shields The Climates of Other Worlds Isotopic Birth Tides Orbit Abundance Environ. Elem. Galactic Abundance Location Impact Flux Orbital Composition Evolution & Structure Luminosity Magnetic Dust Eccen. Metallicity Field Minor Oscillations Planets Stellar Rotation Planetary Activity Effects System Orbits Companions Sibling Satellites Planets Spectral Liquid water Energy Masses Distribution Obliquity Radius Planetary Orbit Properties Dynamics Albedo Surface Temps Rotation Clouds Oblatenes rate Outgassing Surface Composition Liquids Magnetic Atmosphere Field Surface Credit: Victoria UV Pressure Interior Meadows Shielding Atm. Structure Density Aomawa Shields Structure The Climates of Other Worlds . 1-D line-by-line radiative transfer models Models . 1-D in height . Atmospheric gas absorption . Radiative convective climate models . Energy Balance Models (EBMs) . 0-D or 1-D (in latitude) usually . 3-D General Circulation Models (GCMs) . Sophisticated treatment of atmospheric circulation, ocean- atmosphere processes Aomawa Shields The Climates of Other Worlds PREDICTING FUTURE CLIMATE ON EARTH IPCC, 2018: Summary for Policymakers Snowball Earth Artist concept Exploring thaw criteria for Snowball Earth Abbot and Pierrehumbert 2010 Aomawa Shields The Climates of Other Worlds Abbot et al. 2011 Aomawa Shields The Climates of Other Worlds Warming Early Mars Credit: ESA Aomawa Shields The Climates of Other Worlds Forget and Pierrehumbert 1997 Credit: Spitzer Space Telescope Aomawa Shields The Climates of Other Worlds Credit: NASA, ESA, and S. Beckwith (STScI) and the HUDF Team Aomawa Shields The Climates of Other Worlds Aomawa Shields The Climates of Other Worlds M-dwarf planets Image credit: ESO/L. Calçada Aomawa Shields The Climates of Other Worlds Red dwarf Sun The Sun G Dwarf M Dwarf 100% Credit: Victoria Meadows Stellar Brightness Small planets are easier to detect around small stars The Habitable Zone ) Stellar Mass (M Distance from Star (AU) Snowball Earth Aomawa Shields The Climates of Other Worlds Synchronous rotation and surface pressure (Joshi, Haberle, and Reynolds 1997) Host star Aomawa Shields The Climates of Other Worlds Synchronous rotation can be a benefit for climate and habitability (Yang et al. 2013) Night side Night side Day side Credit: Jun Yang Aomawa Shields The Climates of Other Worlds Aomawa Shields The Climates of Other Worlds M-dwarf planets could lose oceans during PMS phase (Luger and Barnes 2015) Aomawa Shields The Climates of Other Worlds Starlight BINGO Aomawa Shields The Climates of Other Worlds Ice-albedo Feedback Courtesy of NASA Shutterstock Photo: Stephen Warren Ice Ice Photo courtesy of Stephen Warren Shields et al. (2013) Ice absorbs where M-dwarfs emit strongly Warren et al. (2002) Grenfell et al. (1994) No ice! PAL (“present atm level”) CO2 Snowball! Instellation (% of what Earth receives) M-dwarf planets less susceptible to snowball Shields et al. (2013) F-dwarf planets more susceptible to snowball Aomawa Shields The Climates of Other Worlds M-dwarf planet is more stable against convection Shields et al. (2013) Albedo Surface Temperature G-dwarf planet (100%) M-dwarf planet (90%) Shields et al. (2013) Climate Stability No ice! Warm start Cold start Snowball! Shorter jump in ice line Higher jump in ice line Shields et al. (2014) M-dwarf planets have Better for life? more stable climates Aomawa Shields The Climates of Other Worlds http://sparce.evac.ou.edu/q_and_a/air_circulation.htm, SPaRCE Transports heat from equator to higher latitudes Aomawa Shields The Climates of Other Worlds Hadley circulation on deglaciating planets Northern hemisphere winter ) 645 × 109 kg/s 623 × 109 kg/s 489 × 109 kg/s mb Pressure ( Pressure Latitude Shields et al. (2014) Weaker Hadley circulation helps M-dwarf planet thaw more easily Aomawa Shields The Climates of Other Worlds Identifying Multiple Possible Climate Regimes Wolf, Shields+ (2017) Aomawa Shields The Climates of Other Worlds Sodium chloride dihydrate (“hydrohalite”) NaCl ·2H2O Carns et al. 2015 Hydrohalite is highly reflective in the IR Shields and Carns 2018 Aomawa Shields Hydrohalite parameterization matters in the HZ, and climate sensitivity increases as instellation is lowered Shields and Carns 2018 Stronger climate sensitivity to hydrohalite parameterization on synchronously-rotating M-dwarf planets Shields and Carns 2018 Aomawa Shields Targeted planet studies Aomawa Shields The Climates of Other Worlds “Eyeball Earth” scenario for Gliese 581 g Pierrehumbert 2011 Multiple-planet systems First place to look for a habitable, Earth-like planet? Aomawa Shields The Climates of Other Worlds Image credit: NASA Ames/JPL-Caltech ? Too hot Aomawa Shields The Climates of Other Worlds Kepler-62f Needs CO2 Aomawa Shields Image credit: NASA Ames/JPLThe-Caltech Climates of Other Worlds Stable eccentricities e_fmax = 0.32 stable Stable ecc for Kepler-62f 0.00 ≤ e ≤ 0.32 unstable Shields et al. (2016a) Aomawa Shields The Climates of Other Worlds Surface Temperature High CO2 Earth- Open water like axial tilt Shields et al. Circular 2016a orbit Global mean surface temps similar to Earth! Aomawa Shields The Climates of Other Worlds Insolation PAL CO2 Shields et al. 2016a Aomawa Shields The Climates of Other Worlds Surface Temperature freezing freezing point point Obliquity = 60° Obliquity = 23° Shields et al. (2016a) Southern hemisphere summer Aomawa Shields The Climates of Other Worlds Shields et al. (2016a) Surface Temperature 3 bar CO2 Shields et al. (2016a) Aomawa Shields The Climates of Other Worlds Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech Courtesy of ESO/L. Calçada Credit: Ansel Adams Take away point Combining observations AND theory = How we will most accurately assess planetary habitability Aomawa Shields The Climates of Other Worlds Rising Stargirls More than the eye can see IRAS Axel Mellinger www.risingstargirls.org Acknowledgments • UCI • KITP • National Science Foundation • NASA Habitable Worlds Program • Clare Boothe Luce Foundation • UC President’s Postdoctoral Fellowship Program • Virtual Planetary Laboratory • Collaborators –Eric Agol, Sarah Ballard , Rory Barns, Cecilia Bitz, Regina Carns, Benjamin Charnay, , John Johnson , Manoj Joshi, Victoria Meadows, Igor Palubski , Ray Pierrehumbert, Tyler Robinson, Andrew Rushby Thank you! NASA Ames/JPL-Caltech/Tim Pyle Email: [email protected] Aomawa Shields Website: http://faculty.sites.uci.edu/shields/ Minimum land fraction for glaciations increases with redder host star SED Andrew Rushby Rushby et al. in prep M-dwarf planets G-dwarf planets Igor Palubski Palubski et al. in prep Planets orbiting cooler stars are thawed for larger fractions of the year for lower eccentricities NEW WORK (Here at KITP) “Trenberth diagram” Synchronous rotation is possible e=0.00 e=0.32 Shields et al. (2016a).
Recommended publications
  • Steven D. Vance –
    Steven D. Vance Research Focus My research focuses on using geophysical and geochemical methods to understand ocean worlds: how oceans couple to the thermal evolution and composition, and what this might mean for life. I am also interested in the global geochemical fluxes in ocean worlds, by analogy to biogeochemical fluxes in the Earth system. My experimental research involves collecting thermodynamic equations of state for fluids and ices. I have applied these equations of state to evaluating oceanic heat transport and double diffusive convection in Europa, and to the geophysical constraints imposed by ocean composition on the radial structures of Europa, Ganymede, Callisto, Enceladus, and Titan. In recent years I have used these models to explore the parameter space of possible geophysical signals—seismic, magnetic, and gravitational—in the interest of improving the fidelity of returned science from investigations of ocean composition and habitability. Education 2001–2007 Ph.D., University of Washington, Seattle, Geophysics and Astrobiology. 1996–2000 B.S., University of California, Santa Cruz, Physics (with honors). Ph.D. Thesis title Thesis title: High Pressure and Low Temperature Equations of State for Aqueous Sulfate Solutions: Applications to the Search for Life in Extraterrestrial Oceans, with Particular Reference to Europa advisor Prof. J. Michael Brown Bachelor Thesis title The Role of Methanol Frost in Particle Sticking and the Formation of Planets in the Early Solar Nebula advisor Prof. Frank G. Bridges Current Appointments Research
    [Show full text]
  • Exoplanet Community Report
    JPL Publication 09‐3 Exoplanet Community Report Edited by: P. R. Lawson, W. A. Traub and S. C. Unwin National Aeronautics and Space Administration Jet Propulsion Laboratory California Institute of Technology Pasadena, California March 2009 The work described in this publication was performed at a number of organizations, including the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, under a contract with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). Publication was provided by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Compiling and publication support was provided by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology under a contract with NASA. Reference herein to any specific commercial product, process, or service by trade name, trademark, manufacturer, or otherwise, does not constitute or imply its endorsement by the United States Government, or the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology. © 2009. All rights reserved. The exoplanet community’s top priority is that a line of probe­class missions for exoplanets be established, leading to a flagship mission at the earliest opportunity. iii Contents 1 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY.................................................................................................................. 1 1.1 INTRODUCTION...............................................................................................................................................1 1.2 EXOPLANET FORUM 2008: THE PROCESS OF CONSENSUS BEGINS.....................................................2
    [Show full text]
  • Recipe for a Habitable Planet
    Recipe for a Habitable Planet Aomawa Shields Clare Boothe Luce Associate Professor Shields Center for Exoplanet Climate and Interdisciplinary Education (SCECIE) University of California, Irvine ASU School of Earth and Space Exploration (SESE) December 2, 2020 A moment to pause… Leading effectively during COVID-19 • Employees Need Trust and Compassion: Be Present, Even When You're Distant • Employees Need Stability: Prioritize Wellbeing Amid Disruption • Employees Need Hope: Anchor to Your "True North" From “3 strategies for leading effectively during COVID-19” (https://www.gallup.com/workplace/306503/strategies-leading-effectively-amid-covid.aspx) Hobbies: reading movies, shows knitting mixed media/collage violin tea yoga good restaurants spa days the beach hiking smelling flowers hanging with family BINGO Ill. Niklas Elmehed. Ill. Niklas Elmehed. © Nobel Media. © Nobel Media. RadialVelocity (m/s) Nobel Prize in Physics 2019 Mayor & Queloz 1995 https://exoplanets.nasa.gov/ As of December 2, 2020 Aomawa Shields Recipe for a Habitable World Credit: NASA NNASA’sASA’s KKeplerepler MMissionission TESS Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite Credit: NASA-JPL/Caltech Proxima Centauri b Credit: ESO/M. Kornmesser LHS 1140b Credit: ESO TOI 700d Credit: NASA TESS planets in the Earth-sized regime Credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center Which ones do we follow up on? 20 The Habitable Zone (Kasting et al. 1993, Kopparapu et al. 2013) ) Runaway greenhouse Maximum CO2 greenhouse Stellar Mass (M Mass Stellar Distance from Star (AU) Snowball Earth Many factors can affect planetary habitability Aomawa Shields Recipe for a Habitable World Liquid water Aomawa Shields Recipe for a Habitable World Isotopic Birth Tides Orbit Abundance Environ.
    [Show full text]
  • Arxiv:2010.01074V2 [Astro-Ph.EP] 14 Jan 2021 Four Years
    Draft version January 18, 2021 Typeset using LATEX twocolumn style in AASTeX63 Refining the transit timing and photometric analysis of TRAPPIST-1: Masses, radii, densities, dynamics, and ephemerides. Eric Agol ,1 Caroline Dorn ,2 Simon L. Grimm ,3 Martin Turbet ,4 Elsa Ducrot ,5 Laetitia Delrez ,6, 4, 5 Michaël Gillon ,5 Brice-Olivier Demory ,3 Artem Burdanov ,7 Khalid Barkaoui ,8, 5 Zouhair Benkhaldoun ,8 Emeline Bolmont ,4 Adam Burgasser ,9 Sean Carey ,10 Julien de Wit ,7 Daniel Fabrycky ,11 Daniel Foreman-Mackey ,12 Jonas Haldemann ,13 David M. Hernandez ,14 James Ingalls ,10 Emmanuel Jehin ,6 Zachary Langford ,1 Jérémy Leconte ,15 Susan M. Lederer ,16 Rodrigo Luger ,12 Renu Malhotra ,17 Victoria S. Meadows ,1 Brett M. Morris ,3 Francisco J. Pozuelos ,6, 5 Didier Queloz ,18 Sean N. Raymond ,15 Franck Selsis ,15 Marko Sestovic ,3 Amaury H.M.J. Triaud ,19 and Valerie Van Grootel 6 1Astronomy Department and Virtual Planetary Laboratory, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195 USA 2University of Zurich, Institute of Computational Sciences, Winterthurerstrasse 190, CH-8057, Zurich, Switzerland 3Center for Space and Habitability, University of Bern, Gesellschaftsstrasse 6, CH-3012, Bern, Switzerland 4Observatoire de Genève, Université de Genève, 51 Chemin des Maillettes, CH-1290 Sauverny, Switzerland 5Astrobiology Research Unit, Université de Liège, Allée du 6 Août 19C, B-4000 Liège, Belgium 6Space Sciences, Technologies and Astrophysics Research (STAR) Institute, Université de Liège, Allée du 6 Août 19C, B-4000 Liège, Belgium 7Department
    [Show full text]
  • Near-Resonance in a System of Sub-Neptunes from TESS
    Near-resonance in a System of Sub-Neptunes from TESS The MIT Faculty has made this article openly available. Please share how this access benefits you. Your story matters. Citation Quinn, Samuel N., et al.,"Near-resonance in a System of Sub- Neptunes from TESS." Astronomical Journal 158, 5 (November 2019): no. 177 doi 10.3847/1538-3881/AB3F2B ©2019 Author(s) As Published 10.3847/1538-3881/AB3F2B Publisher American Astronomical Society Version Final published version Citable link https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/124708 Terms of Use Article is made available in accordance with the publisher's policy and may be subject to US copyright law. Please refer to the publisher's site for terms of use. The Astronomical Journal, 158:177 (16pp), 2019 November https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-3881/ab3f2b © 2019. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved. Near-resonance in a System of Sub-Neptunes from TESS Samuel N. Quinn1 , Juliette C. Becker2 , Joseph E. Rodriguez1 , Sam Hadden1 , Chelsea X. Huang3,45 , Timothy D. Morton4 ,FredC.Adams2 , David Armstrong5,6 ,JasonD.Eastman1 , Jonathan Horner7 ,StephenR.Kane8 , Jack J. Lissauer9, Joseph D. Twicken10 , Andrew Vanderburg11,46 , Rob Wittenmyer7 ,GeorgeR.Ricker3, Roland K. Vanderspek3 , David W. Latham1 , Sara Seager3,12,13,JoshuaN.Winn14 , Jon M. Jenkins9 ,EricAgol15 , Khalid Barkaoui16,17, Charles A. Beichman18, François Bouchy19,L.G.Bouma14 , Artem Burdanov20, Jennifer Campbell47, Roberto Carlino21, Scott M. Cartwright22, David Charbonneau1 , Jessie L. Christiansen18 , David Ciardi18, Karen A. Collins1 , Kevin I. Collins23,DennisM.Conti24,IanJ.M.Crossfield3, Tansu Daylan3,48 , Jason Dittmann3 , John Doty25, Diana Dragomir3,49 , Elsa Ducrot17, Michael Gillon17 , Ana Glidden3,12 , Robert F.
    [Show full text]
  • Curriculum Vitae for Cecilia M. Bitz 22 May 2019 Department of Atmospheric Sciences Box 351640 University of Washington Seattle, WA 98195-1640
    Curriculum Vitae for Cecilia M. Bitz 22 May 2019 Department of Atmospheric Sciences Box 351640 University of Washington Seattle, WA 98195-1640 Education 1997 PhD Atmospheric Sciences University of Washington Dissertation title: A Model Study of Natural Variability in the Arctic Climate 1990 MS Physics University of Washington 1988 BS Engineering Physics Oregon State University Professional positions held 2019 (July) –Present Chair of Department of Atmospheric Sciences, University of Washington 2017–Present Directory Program on Climate Change, University of Washington 2013–Present Professor, Atmospheric Sciences, University of Washington 2012–Present Faculty, Astrobiology Program, University of Washington 2006–Present Adjunct Physicist, Polar Science Center, University of Washington 2009–2013 Associate Professor, Atmospheric Sciences, University of Washington 2005–2009 Assistant Professor, Atmospheric Sciences, University of Washington 2001–2005 Physicist, Polar Science Center, Applied Physics Lab, University of Washington 2000 - 2001 NOAA Climate and Global Change Visiting Scholar, Polar Science Center, Applied Physics Laboratory, University of Washington 1999 Apr.-Dec. Research Associate, Quaternary Research Center, University of Washington 1997 -1999 Research Associate, School of Earth & Ocean Sciences, Univ. of Victoria, Canada. 1993-1997 Research Assistant, Department of Atmospheric Sciences, University of Washington 1988-1993 Research Assistant, Department of Physics, University of Washington Awards and Honors Graduate Student Invited
    [Show full text]
  • Secure TTV Mass Measurements: Ten Kepler Exoplanets Between 3 and 8 M⊕ with Diverse Densities and Incident Fluxes” (2016, Apj, 820, 39)
    The Astrophysical Journal, 849:73 (2pp), 2017 November 1 https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/aa8d19 © 2017. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved. Erratum: “Secure TTV Mass Measurements: Ten Kepler Exoplanets between 3 and 8 M⊕ with Diverse Densities and Incident Fluxes” (2016, ApJ, 820, 39) Daniel Jontof-Hutter1,2 , Eric B. Ford2 , Jason F. Rowe3 , Jack J. Lissauer4, Daniel C. Fabrycky5, Christa Van Laerhoven6, Eric Agol7 , Katherine M. Deck8, Tomer Holczer9 , and Tsevi Mazeh9 1 Department of Physics, University of the Pacific, Stockton, CA 95211, USA; djontofhutter@pacific.edu 2 Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, 525 Davey Laboratory, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802, USA 3 Department of Physics and Astronomy, Bishop’s University, Sherbrooke, Quebec J1M IZ7, Canada 4 Space Science and Astrobiology Division, MS 245-3, NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA 94035, USA 5 Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, University of Chicago, 5640 South Ellis Avenue, Chicago, IL 60637, USA 6 Canadian Institute for Theoretical Astrophysics, 60 St. George Street, Toronto, ON M5S 3H8, Canada 7 Department of Astronomy, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195, USA 8 Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, USA 9 School of Physics and Astronomy, Raymond and Beverly Sackler Faculty of Exact Sciences, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv 69978, Israel Received 2017 August 31; accepted 2017 September 12; published 2017 November 2 Some of the figures in the original manuscript showing the joint posteriors of esinw of neighboring planets are incorrect. The original figures erroneously displayed joint posteriors of ecosw. The originals and their corrections are plotted below.
    [Show full text]
  • A Second Terrestrial Planet Orbiting the Nearby M Dwarf LHS 1140 Kristo Ment,1 Jason A
    Draft version November 26, 2018 Typeset using LATEX preprint style in AASTeX62 A second terrestrial planet orbiting the nearby M dwarf LHS 1140 Kristo Ment,1 Jason A. Dittmann,2 Nicola Astudillo-Defru,3 David Charbonneau,1 Jonathan Irwin,1 Xavier Bonfils,4 Felipe Murgas,5 Jose-Manuel Almenara,4 Thierry Forveille,4 Eric Agol,6 Sarah Ballard,7 Zachory K. Berta-Thompson,8 Franc¸ois Bouchy,9 Ryan Cloutier,10, 11, 12 Xavier Delfosse,4 Rene´ Doyon,12 Courtney D. Dressing,13 Gilbert A. Esquerdo,1 Raphaelle¨ D. Haywood,1 David M. Kipping,14 David W. Latham,1 Christophe Lovis,9 Elisabeth R. Newton,7 Francesco Pepe,9 Joseph E. Rodriguez,1 Nuno C. Santos,15, 16 Thiam-Guan Tan,17 Stephane Udry,9 Jennifer G. Winters,1 and Anael¨ Wunsche¨ 4 1Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA 251 Pegasi b Postdoctoral Fellow, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA 3Departamento de Astronom´ıa,Universidad de Concepci´on,Casilla 160-C, Concepci´on,Chile 4Universit´eGrenoble Alpes, CNRS, IPAG, F-38000 Grenoble, France 5Instituto de Astrof´ısica de Canarias (IAC), E-38200 La Laguna, Tenerife, Spain 6Astronomy Department, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195, USA 7Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA 8Department of Astrophysical and Planetary Sciences, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO 80309, USA 9Observatoire de l'Universit´ede Gen`eve,51 chemin des Maillettes, 1290 Versoix, Switzerland 10Dept. of Astronomy & Astrophysics, University of Toronto, 50 St. George Street, M5S 3H4, Toronto, ON, Canada 11Centre for Planetary Sciences, Dept.
    [Show full text]
  • The TRAPPIST-1 JWST Community Initiative
    Bulletin of the AAS • Vol. 52, Issue 2 The TRAPPIST-1 JWST Community Initiative Michaël Gillon1, Victoria Meadows2, Eric Agol2, Adam J. Burgasser3, Drake Deming4, René Doyon5, Jonathan Fortney6, Laura Kreidberg7, James Owen8, Franck Selsis9, Julien de Wit10, Jacob Lustig-Yaeger11, Benjamin V. Rackham10 1Astrobiology Research Unit, University of Liège, Belgium, 2Department of Astronomy, University of Washington, USA, 3Department of Physics, University of California San Diego, USA, 4Department of Astronomy, University of Maryland at College Park, USA, 5Institute for Research in Exoplanets, University of Montreal, Canada, 6Other Worlds Laboratory, University of California Santa Cruz, USA, 7Center for Astrophysics | Harvard and Smithsonian, USA, 8Department of Physics, Imperial College London, United Kingdom, 9Laboratoire d’Astrophysique de Bordeaux, University of Bordeaux, France, 10Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences, MIT, USA, 11Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, Laurel, MD, USA Published on: Dec 02, 2020 DOI: 10.3847/25c2cfeb.afbf0205 License: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC-BY 4.0) Bulletin of the AAS • Vol. 52, Issue 2 The TRAPPIST-1 JWST Community Initiative ABSTRACT The upcoming launch of the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) combined with the unique features of the TRAPPIST-1 planetary system should enable the young field of exoplanetology to enter into the realm of temperate Earth-sized worlds. Indeed, the proximity of the system (12pc) and the small size (0.12 R )
    [Show full text]
  • Factors Affecting the Nature and Identification of Exoplanet Habitability
    Factors Affecting the Nature and Identification of Planetary Habitability Victoria Meadows and the NAI Virtual Planetary Laboratory Team The University of Washington, California Institute of Technology, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pennsylvania State University, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, University of Maryland, NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies, University of Chicago, Weber State University, Princeton University, Laboratoire d’Astrophysique – Bordeaux, NASA Ames Research Center, Stanford University, Rice University, Washington University at Saint Louis, Yale University, Australian Center for Astrobiology. Habitability • Habitability is a measure of an environment’s potential to support life. Why is the Study of Habitability Important? • Habitability increases the probability that life, a planetary process, may be operating in the planetary environment. – This can make a target more desirable, and will improve interpretation of our data. • Broader definitions of habitability help inform the possible distribution of life elsewhere. • Narrower definitions of planetary habitability provide practical tools to inform mission design and help prioritize targets. Life’s Requirements Cockell et al., 2016; After Hoehler et al., 2007 Photo: Frans Lanting The Surface Liquid Water Habitable Zone That region around a star where life’s requirements are most likely to be met, and be detectable. A Multitude of Worlds Observational Bias Many unlike planets in our own Solar System Planetary System Architectures Planets May Form In Crowded Systems
    [Show full text]
  • Download This Article in PDF Format
    A&A 615, A79 (2018) https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/201732483 Astronomy & © ESO 2018 Astrophysics Kepler Object of Interest Network? I. First results combining ground- and space-based observations of Kepler systems with transit timing variations C. von Essen1,2, A. Ofir2,3, S. Dreizler2, E. Agol4,5,6, J. Freudenthal2, J. Hernández7, S. Wedemeyer8,9, V. Parkash10, H. J. Deeg11,12, S. Hoyer11,12,13, B. M. Morris4, A. C. Becker4, L. Sun14, S. H. Gu14, E. Herrero15, L. Tal-Or2,17, K. Poppenhaeger18, M. Mallonn19, S. Albrecht1, S. Khalafinejad20, P. Boumis21, C. Delgado-Correal22, D. C. Fabrycky23, R. Janulis24, S. Lalitha25, A. Liakos21, Š. Mikolaitis24, M. L. Moyano D’Angelo26, E. Sokov27,28, E. Pakštiene˙24, A. Popov29, V. Krushinsky29, I. Ribas15, M. M. Rodríguez S.7, S. Rusov27, I. Sokova27, G. Tautvaišiene˙24, and X. Wang14 (Affiliations can be found after the references) Received 18 December 2017 / Accepted 9 February 2018 ABSTRACT During its four years of photometric observations, the Kepler space telescope detected thousands of exoplanets and exoplanet candi- dates. One of Kepler’s greatest heritages has been the confirmation and characterization of hundreds of multi-planet systems via transit timing variations (TTVs). However, there are many interesting candidate systems displaying TTVs on such long timescales that the existing Kepler observations are of insufficient length to confirm and characterize them by means of this technique. To continue with Kepler’s unique work, we have organized the “Kepler Object of Interest Network” (KOINet), a multi-site network formed of several telescopes located throughout America, Europe, and Asia.
    [Show full text]
  • NASA Administrator Charles Bolden Visits Ames
    June 2013 - A Quarterly Publication NASA's Kepler discovers its smallest 'habitable zone' planets to date BY MICHELE JOHNSON NASA's Kepler Mission has re- cently discovered two new planetary systems that include three super- Earth-size planets in the "habitable zone," the range of distance from a star where the surface temperature of an orbiting planet might be suitable for liquid water. The Kepler-62 system has five planets; 62b, 62c, 62d, 62e and 62f. The Kepler-69 system has two planets; 69b and 69c. Kepler-62e, 62f and 69c are the super-Earth-sized planets. Two of the newly discovered planets orbit a star smaller and cooler than the sun. Kepler-62f is only 40 Relative sizes of all of the habitable-zone planets discovered to date alongside Earth. Left to right: Kepler-22b, percent larger than Earth, making it Kepler-69c, Kepler-62e, Kepler-62f and Earth (except for Earth, these are artists' renditions). Image credit: NASA the exoplanet closest to the size of Ames/JPL-Caltech. our planet known in the habitable zone of another star. Kepler-62f is around a sun-like star resembles that ate administrator of the Science Mis- likely to have a rocky composition. of our neighboring planet Venus. sion Directorate at NASA Headquar- Kepler-62e, orbits on the inner edge Scientists do not know whether life ters in Washington. "The discovery of of the habitable zone and is roughly could exist on the newfound planets, these rocky planets in the habitable 60 percent larger than Earth. but their discovery signals we are zone brings us a bit closer to finding The third planet, Kepler-69c, is 70 another step closer to finding a world a place like home.
    [Show full text]