The TRAPPIST-1 Habitable Atmosphere Intercomparison (THAI). II. Moist Cases—The Two Waterworlds

Habitable worlds with JWST: transit spectroscopy of the TRAPPIST-1 system?

The recent discovery of three Earth-sized, potentially habitable planets around a nearby cool star, TRAPPIST-1, has provided three key targets for the upcoming James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). Depending on their atmospheric characteristics and precise orbit configurations, it is possible that any of the three planets may be in the liquid water habitable zone, meaning that they may be capable ...

Thermodynamic Consistency of the Anelastic Approximation for a Moist Atmosphere

The primary goal of this paper is to validate the use of the anelastic approximation for fluids with a complex equation of state such as moist air or seawater. The anelastic approximation is based on a leading-order expansion of the equations of motion for a compressible fluid in terms of density. Its application to atmospheric flows has been based on a dry framework that treats phase transitio...

TRAPPIST-1: The dawning of the age of Aquarius.

Enhanced interplanetary panspermia in the TRAPPIST-1 system.

We present a simple model for estimating the probability of interplanetary panspermia in the recently discovered system of seven planets orbiting the ultracool dwarf star TRAPPIST-1 and find that panspermia is potentially orders of magnitude more likely to occur in the TRAPPIST-1 system compared with the Earth-to-Mars case. As a consequence, we argue that the probability of abiogenesis is enhan...

1 Habitable Zones in the Universe

Habitability varies dramatically with location and time in the universe. This was recognized centuries ago, but it was only in the last few decades that astronomers began to systematize the study of habitability. The introduction of the concept of the habitable zone was key to progress in this area. The habitable zone concept was first applied to the space around a star, now called the Circumst...