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HABITABLE ZONES AROUND MAIN-SEQUENCE STARS: NEW ESTIMATES
Open accessAbstract
Identifying terrestrial planets in the habitable zones (HZs) of other stars is one of the primary goals of ongoing radial velocity (RV) and transit exoplanet surveys and proposed future space missions. Most current estimates of the boundaries of the HZ are based on one-dimensional (1D), cloud-free, climate model calculations by Kasting et al. However, this model used band models that were based on older HITRAN and HITEMP line-by-line databases. The inner edge of the HZ in the Kasting et al. model was determined by loss of water, and the outer edge was determined by the maximum greenhouse provided by a CO 2 atmosphere. A conservative estimate for the width of the HZ from this model in our solar system is 0.95–1.67 AU. Here an updated 1D radiative–convective, cloud-free climate model is used to obtain new estimates for HZ widths around F, G, K, and M stars. New H 2 O and CO 2 absorption coefficients, derived from the HITRAN 2008 and HITEMP 2010 line-by-line databases, are important improvements to the climate model. According to the new model, the water-loss (inner HZ) and maximum greenhouse (outer HZ) limits for our solar system are at 0.99 and 1.70 AU, respectively, suggesting that the present Earth lies near the inner edge. Additional calculations are performed for stars with effective temperatures between 2600 and 7200 K, and the results are presented in parametric form, making them easy to apply to actual stars. The new model indicates that, near the inner edge of the HZ, there is no clear distinction between runaway greenhouse and water-loss limits for stars with T eff ≲ 5000 K, which has implications for ongoing planet searches around K and M stars. To assess the potential habitability of extrasolar terrestrial planets, we propose using stellar flux incident on a planet rather than equilibrium temperature. This removes the dependence on planetary (Bond) albedo, which varies depending on the host star's spectral type. We suggest that conservative estimates of the HZ (water-loss and maximum greenhouse limits) should be used for current RV surveys and Kepler mission to obtain a lower limit on η ⊕ , so that future flagship missions like TPF-C and Darwin are not undersized. Our model does not include the radiative effects of clouds; thus, the actual HZ boundaries may extend further in both directions than the estimates just given.
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“The new Kopparapu et al. (2013) habitable zone model recalculates the classic Kasting et al. (1993) habitable zone with updated model inputs, and its habitable zone extends from 0.99 to 1.70 AU.”
From The Astrobiology Primer v2.0 (2016) · cites this paper as Kopparapu et al. (2013)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredThe source backs part of the claim, not all of it — or backs it for a different population, condition or comparison.
In the citing paper
“However, this study did not include the effects of clouds or circulation of moisture, either of which could stabilize a planet at the inner edge of the habitable zone.”
From The Astrobiology Primer v2.0 (2016) · cites this paper as Kopparapu et al. (2013)
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In the citing paper
“In this updated conservative estimation, Earth is very near the inner edge of the current habitable zone.”
From The Astrobiology Primer v2.0 (2016) · cites this paper as Kopparapu et al. (2013)
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In the citing paper
“The location of the habitable zone depends on how bright the star is (Kopparapu et al., 2013); for brighter stars, the habitable zone is shifted outward because planets must be farther away from these stars to maintain temperatures necessary for liquid water, and for dimmer stars, the habitable zone is shifted inward (Fig. 18).”
From The Astrobiology Primer v2.0 (2016) · cites this paper as Kopparapu et al., 2013
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Citations
Cites
Mlawer, E. J., Taubman, S. J., Brown, P. D., Iacono, M. J., & Clough, S. A. (1997) · Journal of Geophysical Research Atmospheres · doi:10.1029/97jd00237 · Cited by 8,438 · cited 1×
“These coefficients were later replaced (Mischna et al. 2000) by coefficients generated using the correlated-k technique (Mlawer et al. 1997; Kato et al. 1999).”
MethodThe HITRAN 2008 molecular spectroscopic database
Rothman, L. S., Gordon, I. E., Barbe, A., Benner, D. C., Bernath, P. F., Birk, M., Boudon, V., Brown, L. R., Campargue, A., Champion, J. P., et al. (2009) · Journal of Quantitative Spectroscopy and Radiative Transfer · doi:10.1016/j.jqsrt.2009.02.013 · Cited by 3,339
Habitable Zones around Main Sequence Stars
Kasting, J. F., Whitmire, D. P., & Reynolds, R. T. (1993) · Icarus · doi:10.1006/icar.1993.1010 · Cited by 2,501 · cited 23×
“Rayleigh scattering by water was also considered by Kasting (1988); Kasting et al. (1993), but these authors used the scattering coefficient for air because the coefficient for H2O was not available, or at least not known to them.”
BackgroundMethodResultInfluentialSelf-citationHITEMP, the high-temperature molecular spectroscopic database
Rothman, L. S., Gordon, I. E., Barber, R. J., Dothe, H., Gamache, R. R., Goldman, A. S., Perevalov, V. I., Tashkun, S. A., & Tennyson, J. (2010) · Journal of Quantitative Spectroscopy and Radiative Transfer · doi:10.1016/j.jqsrt.2010.05.001 · Cited by 2,296 · cited 1×
“It is a program to produce high-resolution spectrum of any gas mixture, in any thermodynamical conditions, from line-by-line (LBL) databases such as HITRAN 2008 (Rothman et al. 2009) and HITEMP 20104 (Rothman et al. 2010).”
BackgroundGlobal Mineralogical and Aqueous Mars History Derived from OMEGA/Mars Express Data
Bibring, J.-P., Langevin, Y., Mustard, J. F., Poulet, F., Arvidson, R., Gendrin, A., Gondet, B., Mangold, N., Pinet, P., Forget, F., et al. (2006) · Science · doi:10.1126/science.1122659 · Cited by 1,667 · cited 1×
“As with the inner edge model, a more optimistic empirical limit on the OHZ can be estimated based on the observation that early Mars was warm enough for liquid water to flow on its surface (Pollack et al. 1987; Bibring et al. 2006).”
BackgroundEdlén, B. (1966) · Metrologia · doi:10.1088/0026-1394/2/2/002 · Cited by 1,263
GAIA: Composition, formation and evolution of the Galaxy
Perryman, M. A. C., de Boer, K. S., Gilmore, G. F., Høg, E., Lattanzi, M. G., Lindegren, L., Luri, X., Mignard, F., Pace, O., & de Zeeuw, P. T. (2001) · Astronomy and Astrophysics · doi:10.1051/0004-6361:20010085 · Cited by 1,103 · cited 1×
“Estimates of luminosities will be derived using photometric and spectroscopic distances for now (in cases where parallax measurements are absent), but eventually GAIA (Perryman et al. 2001) will yield very precise parallaxes (and by extension precise luminosities) for all these target stars.”
BackgroundBorucki, W. J., Koch, D. G., Basri, G., Batalha, N., Brown, T. M., Bryson, S. T., Caldwell, D., Christensen-Dalsgaard, J., Cochran, W. D., DeVore, E., et al. (2011) · The Astrophysical Journal · doi:10.1088/0004-637x/736/1/19 · Cited by 1,042 · cited 2×
“In order to assess the potential habitability of recently discovered exoplanets, equilibrium temperature (Teq) has been used as a metric (Borucki et al. 2011; Batalha et al. 2012).”
BackgroundMethodPLANETARY CANDIDATES OBSERVED BY KEPLER . III. ANALYSIS OF THE FIRST 16 MONTHS OF DATA
Batalha, N. M., Rowe, J. F., Bryson, S. T., Barclay, T., Burke, C. J., Caldwell, D. A., Christiansen, J. L., Mullally, F., Thompson, S. E., Brown, T. M., et al. (2013) · The Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series · doi:10.1088/0067-0049/204/2/24 · Cited by 1,042
Toon, O. B., Mckay, C., Ackerman, T., & Santhanam, K. (1989) · Journal of Geophysical Research Atmospheres · doi:10.1029/jd094id13p16287 · Cited by 888 · cited 2×
“A δ two-stream approximation (Toon et al. 1989) was used to calculate the net absorbed solar radiation for each of the 101 layers, using separate eight-term, correlated-k coefficients for both CO2 and H2O to parameterize absorption in each of the 38 solar spectral intervals ranging from 0.2− 4.5µm.”
MethodInfluential
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Cited by
Sorted by citations
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Vilović, I., Goyal, J., Heller, R., & von Schauenburg, F. M. (2025) · Astronomische Nachrichten · doi:10.1002/asna.20240081
“Stellar/planetary parameters and atmospheric compositions used in the coupled climate-photochemistry model Atmos .”
Influential
Metadata
- Authors
- Kopparapu, R. K., Ramirez, R., Kasting, J. F., Eymet, V., Robinson, T. D., Mahadevan, S., Terrien, R. C., Domagal-Goldman, S., Meadows, V., & Deshpande, R.
- Affiliations
- Pennsylvania State University (US)
- Laboratoire d'Astrophysique de Bordeaux (FR)
- NASA Astrobiology Institute (US)
- Goddard Space Flight Center (US)
- ORCID
- Venue
- The Astrophysical Journal
- Publisher
- American Astronomical Society
- Published
- 2013-02-26
- Volume
- 765
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 131
- ISSN
- 0004-637X (ISSN-L)
- 1538-4357
- OpenAlex
- W2047751764
- Cited by
- 1,615
- References
- 95
- Citations by year
- 2026: 89 · 2025: 115 · 2024: 119 · 2023: 125 · 2022: 110 · 2021: 112 · 2020: 157 · 2019: 177 · 2018: 149 · 2017: 109 · 2016: 115 · 2015: 83 · 2014: 95 · 2013: 55
- FWCI
- 61.44
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- The Astrophysical Journal (publishedVersion)
- arXiv (Cornell University) (submittedVersion)
- HAL (submittedVersion)
- Oskar-Bordeaux (Universite de Bordeaux) (submittedVersion)
- arXiv (Cornell University)
- Funders
- National Science Foundation (1126413, 1006676)
- National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NNH05ZDA001C)
- Pennsylvania Space Grant Consortium
- Oak Ridge Associated Universities
- University of Pennsylvania
- University of Washington
- Pennsylvania State University
- NASA Astrobiology Institute
- NASA Headquarters
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Physics and Astronomy › Astronomy and Astrophysics › Stellar, planetary, and galactic studies
- Physical Sciences › Physics and Astronomy › Astronomy and Astrophysics › Space Science and Extraterrestrial Life
- Physical Sciences › Earth and Planetary Sciences › Space and Planetary Science › Planetary Science and Exploration
- Keywords
- habitable zone, main-sequence stars, terrestrial exoplanets, water loss, runaway greenhouse, stellar effective temperature, stellar flux, M dwarfs, K stars, F and G stars
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