Habitable Zone

habitable zone, the orbital region around a star in which an Earth-like planet can possess liquid water on its surface and possibly support life. Liquid water is essential to all life on Earth, and so the definition of a habitable zone is based on the hypothesis that extraterrestrial life would share this requirement. This is a very conservative (but observationally useful) definition, as a planet’s surface temperature depends not only on its proximity to its star but also on such factors as its atmospheric greenhouse gases, its reflectivity, and its atmospheric or oceanic circulation. Moreover, internal energy sources such as radioactive decay and tidal heating can warm a planet’s surface to the melting point of water. These energy sources can also maintain subsurface reservoirs of liquid water, so a planet could contain life without being within its star’s habitable zone. Earth, for instance, has a thriving subsurface biosphere, albeit one that is composed almost exclusively of simple organisms that can survive in oxygen-poor environments. Jupiter’s moon Europa has a liquid water ocean tens of kilometres below its surface that may well be habitable for some organisms.

About 40 planets, including the nearest extrasolar planet, Proxima Centauri b, and three planets in the TRAPPIST-1 system, have been found that are both roughly Earth-sized and orbiting within the habitable zones of their stars. Astronomers have also used simulations of the climates of other extrasolar planets such as Kepler-452b to determine that they could have surface water under the right climatic conditions.