University of Exeter, UK | 2020 Jun 09
Scientists have expanded our understanding of potentially habitable planets orbiting distant stars by including a critical climate component – the presence of airborne dust.
The researchers suggest that planets with significant airborne dust – similar to the world portrayed in the classic sci-fi Dune – could be habitable over a greater range of distances from their parent star, therefore increasing the window for planets capable of sustaining life. ...A visualization of three computer simulations of terrestrial exoplanets, showing winds
(arrows) and airborne dust (color scale), with an M-dwarf host star in the background.
Credit: Denis Sergeev/University of Exeter
Planets orbiting close to stars smaller and cooler than the Sun, so-called M—dwarfs, are likely to exist in synchronised rotation-orbit states, resulting in permanent day and night sides.
The researchers found that dust cools down the hotter dayside but also warms the night side, effectively widening the planet’s `habitable zone’, the range of distances from the star where surface water could exist. Detection and characterisation of potentially habitable distant planets is currently most effective for these types of worlds. ...
Mineral Dust Increases the Habitability of Terrestrial Planets
but Confounds Biomarker Detection ~ Ian A. Boutle et al
- Nature Communications 11:2731 (09 Jun 2020) DOI: 10.1038/s41467-020-16543-8