Abel Méndez: Planetary Habitability of Exoplanets

The mean global surface temperature of a planet is one of many essential factors necessary to understand the climate, weathering rates, and potential habitability of exoplanets. Theoretical attempts to explore planetary temperatures use simple 1D energy balance models to computational demanding General Circulation Models. We used first principles to create a general analytical model to constrain the mean global surface temperature of rocky planets with none to dense atmospheres . We used our model to define a Temperate Zone (TZ) as the region around a star where a rocky planet could have surface temperatures between 0°to 50°C. The TZ overlaps with parts of the empirical habitable zone and helps identify exoplanets that are more likely to be thermally similar to Earth, although not necessarily with the same amount of water. We also used our model to constrain the potential surface temperatures of different planetary systems, including those around TRAPPIST-1. Future characterization of the atmospheres of these planets would help to constrain their surface temperatures further. The potential habitability and biosignatures of exoplanets might be correlated with planets inside the TZ.