The outer limit of the life supporting zone of exoplanets having CO2-rich atmospheres: Virtual exoplanets and Kepler planetary candidates

Autor(en)

David Neubauer, Johannes J. Leitner, Maria Gertrude Firneis, Regina Hitzenberger

Abstrakt

CO₂ rich atmospheres have been considered for the outer limit

of the classic water habitable zone. Here we provide a database for the

outer limit of the life supporting zone consisting of a sulfuric acid, a

water and a water/ammonia mixture (15 wt% ammonia) habitable zone for

virtual exoplanets having CO₂-rich atmospheres and orbiting G-, K-, or M-dwarf stars. We used recent CO₂ line and continuum absorption data for CO₂

pressures up to 100 bar for our simulations. Scenarios for different

stellar spectra, stellar fluxes, planetary surface albedos, atmospheric

pressures and planetary masses are explored. One notable result is that

the surface temperature does not strongly increase if CO₂ pressure is larger than approximately 25 bar, due to increased Rayleigh scattering or CO₂

condensation at the surface and a thereby reduced greenhouse effect in

these cases. The database is created for virtual exoplanets and applied

to Kepler planetary candidates. All of the considered planetary

candidates likely lie within the outer limit of the life supporting

zone.

Organisation(en)

Institut für Astrophysik, Aerosolphysik und Umweltphysik

Journal

Planetary and Space Science

Band

84

Seiten

163-172

Anzahl der Seiten

10

ISSN

0032-0633

DOI

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pss.2013.04.012

Publikationsdatum

08-2013

Peer-reviewed

Ja

ÖFOS 2012

103003 Astronomie

Schlagwörter

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