The Role of Planetary System Architecture in Planetary Habitability

Details The Role of Planetary System Architecture in Planetary Habitability The Role of Planetary System Architecture in Planetary Habitability

Dec 2009

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2009agufm.b13b0512b&link_type=abstract

American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2009, abstract #B13B-0512

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astrophysics

[0424] Biogeosciences / Biosignatures And Proxies, [0456] Biogeosciences / Life In Extreme Environments, [5421] Planetary Sciences: Solid Surface Planets / Interactions With Particles And Fields, [6296] Planetary Sciences: Solar System Objects / Extra-Solar Planets

Scientific paper

Traditionally, the habitable zone is defined as the region around a star in which liquid water can be stable on a planetary surface. At first these calculations considered planets on circular orbits [1]. More recent investigations into nonzero orbital eccentricities found that the limits of the habitable zone should reflect the orbit-averaged flux a planet receives [2]. However, those studies assumed the potentially habitable planet is isolated. If additional planets are in the system, gravitational interactions between planets can cause eccentricity oscillations on timescales of 103 - 106 years. Furthermore, the known multi-planet systems (generally consisting of giant planets) appear to undergo large amplitude eccentricity oscillations [3]. If rocky exoplanets also experience such large variations, then the orbit-averaged flux may change significantly, impacting habitability. We show that plausible architectures of rocky planet systems can indeed lead to orbits with large eccentricity cycles. Moreover, some planets could cross either the inner or outer habitable zone boundaries due to these oscillations. We therefore suggest that the shape of actual habitable zones depends critically on the configuration (orbits and masses) of the entire planetary system. [1] Kasting, J.F. et al. 1993, Icarus, 101, 108. [2] Williams, D.M. & Pollard, D. 2002, I. J. AsBio, 2, 1. [3] Barnes, R., & Greenberg, R. 2006, Astrophys. J., 652, L53.

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