Stellar Aspects of Habitability-Characterizing Target Stars for Terrestrial Planet-Finding Missions
Journal article, 2010
We present and discuss the criteria for selecting potential target stars suitable for the search for Earth-like planets, with a special emphasis on the stellar aspects of habitability. Missions that search for terrestrial exoplanets will explore the presence and habitability of Earth-like exoplanets around several hundred nearby stars, mainly F, G, K, and M stars. The evaluation of the list of potential target systems is essential in order to develop mission concepts for a search for terrestrial exoplanets. Using the Darwin All Sky Star Catalogue (DASSC), we discuss the selection criteria, configuration-dependent subcatalogues, and the implication of stellar activity for habitability.
Habitability
late-type dwarfs
activity
mass m-stars
ejection cme
extra-solar planets
Darwin/TPF
harps search
super-earth
Nearby stars
main-sequence
Exoplanet search
m-circle-plus
x-ray-emission
earth-like exoplanets
Author
L. Kaltenegger
Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
C. Eiroa
Universidad Autonoma de Madrid (UAM)
I. Ribas
Spanish National Research Council (CSIC)
F. Paresce
Istituto nazionale di astrofisica (INAF)
M. Leitzinger
University of Graz
P. Odert
University of Graz
A. Hanslmeier
University of Graz
M. Fridlund
European Space Research and Technology Centre (ESA ESTEC)
H. Lammer
Institut fur Weltraumforschung
C. Beichman
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology
W. Danchi
National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)
T. Henning
Max Planck Society
T. Herbst
Max Planck Society
A. Leger
University of Paris-Sud
René Liseau
Chalmers, Department of Radio and Space Science, Radio Astronomy and Astrophysics
J. Lunine
University of Arizona
A. Penny
STFC Rutherford Appleton Laboratory
A. Quirrenbach
Heidelberg-Königstuhl State Observatory
H. Rottgering
Leiden University
F. Selsis
University of Bordeaux
J. Schneider
Observatoire de Paris-Meudon
D. Stam
Netherlands Institute for Space Research (SRON)
G. Tinetti
University College London (UCL)
G. J. White
STFC Rutherford Appleton Laboratory
Open University
Astrobiology
1531-1074 (ISSN)
Vol. 10 1 103-112Subject Categories (SSIF 2011)
Astronomy, Astrophysics and Cosmology
Roots
Basic sciences
DOI
10.1089/ast.2009.0367