Search Publications
The Habitability of Proxima Centauri b: Environmental States and Observational Discriminants
Lustig-Yaeger, Jacob; Meadows, Victoria S.; Arney, Giada N. +11 more
Proxima Centauri b provides an unprecedented opportunity to understand the evolution and nature of terrestrial planets orbiting M dwarfs. Although Proxima Cen b orbits within its star's habitable zone, multiple plausible evolutionary paths could have generated different environments that may or may not be habitable. Here, we use 1-D coupled climat…
Spectral Fingerprints of Earth-like Planets Around FGK Stars
Sasselov, Dimitar; Kaltenegger, Lisa; Rugheimer, Sarah +2 more
We present model atmospheres for an Earth-like planet orbiting the entire grid of main sequence FGK stars with effective temperatures ranging from Teff = 4250K to Teff = 7000K in 250K intervals. We model the remotely detectable spectra of Earth-like planets for clear and cloudy atmospheres at the 1AU equivalent distance from the VIS to IR (0.4 {\m…
The Effect of a Strong Stellar Flare on the Atmospheric Chemistry of an Earth-like Planet Orbiting an M Dwarf
Walkowicz, Lucianne M.; Segura, Antígona; Hawley, Suzanne +2 more
Main sequence M stars pose an interesting problem for astrobiology: their abundance in our galaxy makes them likely targets in the hunt for habitable planets, but their strong chromospheric activity produces high-energy radiation and charged particles that may be detrimental to life. We studied the impact of the 1985 April 12 flare from the M dwar…
Biosignatures from Earth-Like Planets Around M Dwarfs
Crisp, David; Cohen, Martin; Tinetti, Giovanna +5 more
Coupled one-dimensional photochemical-climate calculations have been performed for hypothetical Earth-like planets around M dwarfs. Visible/near-infrared and thermal-infrared synthetic spectra of these planets were generated to determine which biosignature gases might be observed by a future, space-based telescope. Our star sample included two obs…