Other
Scientific paper
Oct 2003
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2003esasp.539..253l&link_type=abstract
In: Proceedings of the Conference on Towards Other Earths: DARWIN/TPF and the Search for Extrasolar Terrestrial Planets, 22-25 A
Other
7
Extrasolar Planets: Families
Scientific paper
A new family of planets is considered which is in between rocky terrestrial planets and gaseous giant ones, Ocean-Planets. We envision that these planets would have formed in an ice-rich environment and migrated closer to their star, in the Habitable Zone. We present hereafter preliminary internal models of these putative planets. We assume that their mass is between 1 and 8 times that of the Earth, and that they are made of equal amounts of metals + rocks and water ice. We show that in the likely case where other light gases (N2/NH3, CO/CH4, H2, He, Ne) are not present in major amount, either due to formation processes and/or to subsequent escape, the planets can possess a surface water ocean, whose depth should not exceed ~100 km. These planets should be detectable by COROT, and would be ideal targets for future missions such as DARWIN/TPF. Finally, the simultaneous presence of O3, H2O and CO2 is pointed out as a possible biosignature, which is not the case of O2 , H2O and CO2 . If they are rather abundant and as resistant to evaporation and atmospheric escape as models predict, the COROT mission (launch scheduled in 2006) should detect several of them.
Brachet Frank
Despois Didier
Guillot Tristan
Lammer Helmut
Leger Alain
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