Redefining the Habitable Zone
Channel: Astro Biological
Date: 2019-01-12

#astrobiology #exoplanets #exobiology #habitablezone #space
 The discovery of the first confirmed exoplanet (or planet outside our solar system) in 1995 got researchers to seriously believe we may just find life out there. Why not? That isn’t a scientific response, but life is incredibly improbable. The amount of unbelievable coincidences that enabled life to appear on Earth is incredible. It seems everything had to be just right, or life just never would have happened. Just like the proverbial bowl of porridge, which actually leads to the topic of this post. A certain famous little girl of fairy tale fame lent her name to the region around a star at which liquid water can exist in a stable form on the surface. More precisely, this region, or “Goldilocks Zone” is the distance from a star: the sweet spot where liquid water exists. To be more precise again, the Goldilocks zone is a function of stellar luminosity and output. That means that the more energetic a star is, the further out it’s Goldilocks or habitable zone is.
 Extremely simplistic, but that’s us in a nutshell. We happen to be just the right distance from our sun. Because life has only been found here (as far as we’re aware), we naturally think that life will tend to favour “earthlike” conditions somewhere else. That does makes some sense. However, does all life in the universe necessarily exist on a rocky, watery world that essentially is just another Earth?

 It may not have to be the case. Much recent thinking has been directed towards redefining the habitable zone. Our solar system is one of countless billions estimated to exist in our galaxy alone. As researchers discover more exo-solar systems it’s becoming apparent that maybe our corner of the galaxy is actually quite unusual. For astrobiology to start kicking goals it’s important to think outside the square. For that reason we take a look at the habitable zone as we know it and stretch it’s limits.

Music: "The Complex", "The Great Unknown"
by audionatix.com

Further Reading and Resources:

The little Venus VR clip was produced by this digital maestro. He is very talented!

http://mattias.malmer.nu

https://www.nasa.gov/ames/kepler/habitable-zones-of-different-stars

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2019/01/10/super-earth-could-contain-alien-life-if-water-exists-scientists-say/2537398002/

https://www.astrobio.net/also-in-news/evidence-for-carbon-rich-surface-on-ceres/amp/

https://www.space.com/24199-biggest-solar-flares-photos-2014-sun-storms.html

https://www.forbes.com/sites/brucedorminey/2018/12/31/galaxy-may-be-littered-with-dead-aliens-blindsided-by-natural-climate-change/#218dc7ae1955

https://benslab.blog/2018/11/28/beyond-the-pale-blue-dot/

https://www.astrobio.net/also-in-news/narrowing-the-universe-in-the-search-for-life/amp/

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