University of Washington, Seattle | 2019 Sep 19
University of Washington astrobiologist Rory Barnes has created software that simulates multiple aspects of planetary evolution across billions of years, with an eye toward finding and studying potentially habitable worlds.
Barnes, a UW assistant professor of astrobiology, astronomy and data science, released the first version of VPLanet, his virtual planet simulator, in August. ...
“It links different physical processes together in a coherent manner,” he said, “so that effects or phenomena that occur in some part of a planetary system are tracked throughout the entire system. And ultimately the hope is, of course, to determine if a planet is able to support life or not.”
VPLanet’s mission is three-fold, Barnes and co-authors write. The software can:...
- simulate newly discovered exoplanets to assess their potential to possess surface liquid water, which is a key to life on Earth and indicates the world is a viable target in the search for life beyond Earth
- model diverse planetary and star systems regardless of potential habitability, to learn about their properties and history, and
- enable transparent and open science that contributes to the search for life in the universe
VPLanet: The Virtual Planet Simulator ~ Rory Barnes et al
- arXiv.org > astro-ph > arXiv:1905.06367 > 15 May 2019 (v1), 27 Aug 2019 (v2)