Constraints on the habitability of extrasolar moons
arXiv:1210.5172 · doi:10.1017/S1743921313012738
Abstract
Detections of massive extrasolar moons are shown feasible with the Kepler space telescope. Kepler's findings of about 50 exoplanets in the stellar habitable zone naturally make us wonder about the habitability of their hypothetical moons. Illumination from the planet, eclipses, tidal heating, and tidal locking distinguish remote characterization of exomoons from that of exoplanets. We show how evaluation of an exomoon's habitability is possible based on the parameters accessible by current and near-future technology.
arXiv commentsubmitted as Proceedings to the XXVIII IAU General Assembly (2012, Beijing), 6 pages, 3 colored figures
References in corpus (23)
- Habitable planets around the star Gl 581?
- Kepler-47: A Transiting Circumbinary Multi-Planet System
- The Compositional Diversity of Extrasolar Terrestrial Planets: I. In-Situ Simulations
- Transit timing effects due to an exomoon
- Kepler-22b: A 2.4 Earth-radius Planet in the Habitable Zone of a Sun-like Star
- Stability of Satellites Around Close-in Extrasolar Giant Planets
- Exotic Earths: Forming Habitable Worlds with Giant Planet Migration
- Transit timing effects due to an exomoon II
- The Hunt for Exomoons with Kepler (HEK): I. Description of a New Observational Project
- Habitable Climates: The Influence of Obliquity
- Origin of the Different Architectures of the Jovian and Saturnian Satellite Systems
- Tidal Heating of Terrestrial Extra-Solar Planets and Implications for their Habitability
- Exomoon habitability constrained by illumination and tidal heating
- On the detectability of habitable exomoons with Kepler-class photometry
- Possibility of a photometric detection of "exomoons"
- Tidal Limits to Planetary Habitability
- N-body Simulations of Satellite Formation around Giant Planets: Origin of Orbital Configuration of the Galilean Moons
- Habitable Planets Around White and Brown Dwarfs: The Perils of a Cooling Primary
- Exomoon habitability constrained by energy flux and orbital stability
- Characterizing Habitable Exo-Moons
- The potential for tidally heated icy and temperate moons around exoplanets
- Post-Capture Evolution of Potentially Habitable Exomoons
- Transit Model of Planets with Moon and Ring System