Circumstellar habitable zone

In astronomy and astrobiology, the circumstellar habitable zone (CHZ) (or simply the habitable zone), colloquially known as the Goldilocks zone, is the region around a star within which planetary-mass objects with sufficient atmospheric pressure can support liquid water at their surfaces.^[1][2] The bounds of the CHZ are calculated using the known requirements of Earth's biosphere, its position in the Solar System and the amount of radiant energy it receives from the Sun. Due to the importance of liquid water to life as it exists on Earth, the nature of the CHZ and the objects within is believed to be instrumental in determining the scope and distribution of extraterrestrial life and intelligence.

Since the concept of the CHZ was first presented in 1953,^[3] numerous planets have now been discovered in the CHZ. Most such planets, being super-Earths or gas giants, are more massive than the Earth, since such planets are easier to detect. On November 4, 2013, astronomers reported, based on Kepler space mission data, that there could be as many as 40 billion Earth-sized planets orbiting in the habitable zones of sun-like stars and red dwarf stars within the Milky Way Galaxy.^[4][5] 11 billion of these estimated planets may be orbiting sun-like stars.^[6] The nearest such planet may be 12 light-years away, according to the scientists.^[4][5] The CHZ is also of particular interest to the emerging field of natural satellite habitability, since planetary-mass moons in the CHZ might outnumber planets.^[7]

In subsequent decades, the CHZ concept began to be challenged as a primary criterion for life. Since the discovery of evidence for extraterrestrial liquid water, substantial quantities of it are now believed to occur outside of the circumstellar habitable zone. Sustained by other energy sources, such as tidal heating^[8][9] or radioactive decay^[10] or pressurized by other non-atmospheric means, the basic conditions for water-dependent life may be found even in interstellar space, on rogue planets or their moons.^[11] In addition, other circumstellar zones, where non-water solvents favorable to hypothetical life based on alternative biochemistries could exist in liquid form at the surface, have been proposed.^[12] Nevertheless, the CHZ remains important in the search for extraterrestrial intelligence.

History

The concept of a Circumstellar Habitable Zone was first introduced in 1953 by Hubertus Strughold, who in his treatise The Green and the Red Planet: A Physiological Study of the Possibility of Life on Mars coined the term "ecosphere" and referred to various "zones" in which life could emerge.^[3][13] In the same year, Harlow Shapley wrote "Liquid Water Belt", which described the same theory in further scientific detail. Both works stressed the importance of liquid water to life.^[14] Su-Shu Huang, an American astrophysicist, first introduced the term "habitable zone" in 1959 to refer to the area around a star where liquid water could exist on a sufficiently large body, and was the first to introduce it in the context of planetary habitability and extraterrestrial life.^[15][16] A major early contributor to habitable zone theory, Huang argued in 1960 that circumstellar habitable zones, and by extension extraterrestrial life, would be uncommon in multiple star systems, given the gravitational instabilities of those systems.^[17]

The theory of habitable zones was further developed in 1964 by Stephen H. Dole in his book Habitable Planets for Man, in which he covered the circumstellar habitable zone itself as well as various other determinants of planetary habitability, eventually estimating the number of habitable planets in the Milky Way to be about 600 million.^[18] At the same time, science-fiction author Isaac Asimov introduced the concept of a circumstellar habitable zone to the general public through his various explorations of space colonization.^[19] The term "Goldilocks zone" emerged in the 1970s, referencing specifically a region around a star whose temperature is "just right" for water to be present in the liquid phase.^[20] In 1993, astronomer James Kasting introduced the term "circumstellar habitable zone" to refer more precisely to the region then (and still) known as the habitable zone.^[15]

An update to habitable-zone theory came in 2000, when astronomers Peter Ward and Donald Brownlee introduced the idea of the "galactic habitable zone", which they later developed with Guillermo Gonzalez.^[21][22] The galactic habitable zone, defined as the region where life is most likely to emerge in a galaxy, encompasses those regions close enough to a galactic center that stars there are enriched with heavier elements, but not so close that star systems, planetary orbits, and the emergence of life would be frequently disrupted by the intense radiation and enormous gravitational forces commonly found at galactic centers.^[21]

Subsequently, several planetary scientists have criticized the circumstellar habitable zone theory for its "carbon chauvinism", proposing that the concept be extended to other solvents, such as ammonia or methane, which could be the basis of life based on an alternative biochemistry.^[12] In 2013, further developments in habitable zone theory were made with the proposal of a circumplanetary habitable zone, also known as the "habitable edge," to encompass the region around a planet where the orbits of natural satellites would not be disrupted, while at the same time tidal heating from the planet would not cause liquid water to boil away.^[23]

Determination of the circumstellar habitable zone

Whether a body is in the circumstellar habitable zone of its host star is dependent on the radius of the planet's orbit (for natural satellites, the host planet's orbit), the mass of the body itself, and the radiative flux of the host star. Given the large spread in the masses of planets within a circumstellar habitable zone, coupled with the discovery of super-Earth planets which can sustain thicker atmospheres and stronger magnetic fields than Earth, circumstellar habitable zones are now split into two separate regions—a "conservative habitable zone" in which lower-mass planets like Earth or Venus can remain habitable, complemented by a larger "extended habitable zone" in which super-Earth planets, with stronger greenhouse effects, can have the right temperature for liquid water to exist at the surface.^[24]

Solar System estimates

Estimates for the habitable zone within the Solar System range from 0.725 to 3.0 astronomical units, though arriving at these estimates has been challenging for a variety of reasons. Venus, for example, has an orbit whose aphelion touches the inner reaches of the Solar System's habitable zone, but has an extremely thick carbon dioxide atmosphere which causes the surface temperature to reach 462 °C (864 °F).^[25] While the entire orbits of the Moon,^[26] Mars,^[27] and the dwarf planet Ceres^[28] lie within various estimates of the habitable zone, and seasonal flows on warm Martian slopes have not yet been ruled out, the three bodies have atmospheric pressures that are far too low to create a strong greenhouse effect and sustain liquid water on their surfaces.

Most estimates, therefore, are inferred on the effect that repositioned orbit would have on the habitability of Earth or Venus. According to extended habitable zone theory, however, a planet with a denser atmosphere than Earth orbiting in the extended habitable zone might theoretically possess liquid water. Gliese 667 Cd^[29] and Gliese 581 d are examples of sufficiently massive planets considered to have the potential for possessing terrestrial surfaces and global warming inducing atmospheres sufficient for habitability.^[30][31]

Estimates of the circumstellar-habitable-zone boundaries of the Solar System

Inner Edge (AU)	Outer Edge (AU)	Year	Notes
0.725	1.24	Dole 1964[18]	Used optically thin atmospheres and fixed albedos. Places the aphelion of Venus just inside the zone.
	1.385–1.398	Budyko 1969[32]	Based on studies of ice albedo feedback models to determine the point at which Earth would experience global glaciation. This estimate was supported in studies by Sellers 1969[33] and North 1975.[34]
0.88–0.912		Rasool and DeBurgh 1970[35]	Based on studies of Venus's atmosphere, Rasool and DeBurgh concluded that this is the minimum distance at which Earth would have formed stable oceans.
0.95	1.01	Hart et al. 1979[36]	Based on computer modelling and simulations of the evolution of the Earth's atmospheric composition and surface temperature. This estimate has often been cited by subsequent publications.
	3.0	Fogg 1992[37]	Used the carbon cycle to estimate the outer edge of the circumstellar habitable zone.
	1.37	Kasting et al. 1993[15]	Noted the cooling effect of cloud albedo.
	2.0	Spiegel et al. 2010[38]	Proposed that seasonal liquid water is possible to this limit when combining high obliquity and orbital eccentricity.
0.75		Abe et al. 2011[39]	Found that land-dominated "desert planets" with water at the poles could exist closer to the Sun than watery planets like Earth.
0.77—0.87	1.02—1.18	Vladilo et al. 2013[40]	Inner edge of circumstellar habitable zone is closer and outer edge is farther for higher atmospheric pressures; determined minimum atmospheric pressure required to be 15 millibar.
0.99	1.688	Kopparapu et al. 2013[1]	Revised estimates using updated runaway greenhouse and water loss algorithms. According to this measure Earth is at the inner edge of the HZ and close to, but just outside of, the runaway greenhouse limit. This applies to a planet with Earth-like atmospheric composition and pressure.
0.5		Zsom et al. 2013 (submitted)[41]	Estimate based on various possible combinations of atmospheric composition, pressure and relative humidity of the planet's atmosphere.
0.97		Ramirez et al. 2013 (submitted)[42]	Applies to planet with Earth-like atmospheric composition and pressure.

Extrasolar extrapolation

Astronomers use stellar flux and the inverse-square law to extrapolate cirumstellar-habitable-zone models created for the Solar System to other stars. For example, while the Solar System has a circumstellar habitable zone centered at 1.34 AU from the Sun,^[1] a star with 0.25 times the luminosity of the Sun would have a habitable zone centered at , or 0.5, the distance from the star, corresponding to a distance of 0.67 AU. Various complicating factors, though, including the individual characteristics of stars themselves, mean that extrasolar extrapolation of the CHZ concept is more complex.

Spectral types and star-system characteristics

Some scientists argue that the concept of a circumstellar habitable zone is actually limited to stars in certain types of systems or of certain spectral types. Binary systems, for example, have circumstellar habitable zones that differ from those of single-star planetary systems, in addition to the orbital-stability concerns inherent with a three-body configuration.^[43] If the Solar System were such a binary system, the outer limits of the resulting circumstellar habitable zone could extend as far as 2.4 AU.^[44][45]

With regard to spectral types, Zoltán Balog proposes that O-type stars cannot form planets due to the photoevaporation caused by their strong ultraviolet emissions.^[46] Studying ultraviolet emissions, Andrea Buccino found that only 40 percent of stars studied (including the Sun) had overlapping liquid water and ultraviolet habitable zones.^[47] Stars smaller than the Sun, on the other hand, have distinct impediments to habitability. Michael Hart, for example, proposed that only main-sequence stars of spectral class K0 or brighter could possess habitable zones, an idea which has evolved in modern times into the concept of a tidal locking radius for red dwarfs. Within this radius, which is coincidental with the red-dwarf habitable zone, it has been suggested that the volcanism caused by tidal heating could cause a "tidal Venus" planet with high temperatures and no ability to support life.^[48]

Others maintain that circumstellar habitable zones are more common and that it is indeed possible for water to exist on planets orbiting cooler stars. Climate modelling from 2013 supports the idea that red dwarf stars can support planets with relatively constant temperatures over their surfaces in spite of tidal locking.^[49] Astronomy professor Eric Agol argues that even white dwarfs may support a relatively brief habitable zone through planetary migration.^[50] At the same time, others have written in similar support of semi-stable, temporary habitable zones around brown dwarfs.^[48]

Stellar evolution

Circumstellar habitable zones change over time with stellar evolution. For example, hot O-type stars, which may remain on the main sequence for fewer than 10 million years,^[51] would have rapidly changing habitable zones not conducive to the development of life. Red dwarf stars, on the other hand, which can live for hundreds of billions of years on the main sequence, would have planets with ample time for life to develop and evolve.^[52][53] Even while stars are on the main sequence, though, their energy output steadily increases, pushing their habitable zones farther and farther out; our Sun, for example, was only 75 percent as bright in the Archaean as it is now,^[54] and in the future continued increases in energy output will put Earth outside of the Sun's habitable zone, even before it reaches the red giant phase.^[55] In order to deal with this increase in luminosity, the concept of a continuously habitable zone has been introduced. As the name suggests, the continuously habitable zone is a region around a star in which planetary-mass bodies can sustain liquid water for a given period of time. Like the general circumstellar habitable zone, the continuously habitable zone of a star is divided into a conservative and extended region.^[55]

In red dwarf systems, gigantic stellar flares which could double a star's brightness in minutes^[56] and huge starspots which can cover 20 percent of the star's surface area,^[57] have the potential to strip an otherwise habitable planet of its atmosphere and water.^[58] As with more massive stars, though, stellar evolution changes their nature,^[59] so by about 1.2 billion years of age, red dwarfs generally become sufficiently constant to allow for the development of life.^[58][60]

Once a star has evolved sufficiently to become a red giant, its circumstellar habitable zone will change dramatically from its main-sequence size. For example, the Sun is expected to engulf the previously-habitable Earth as a red giant.^[61] However, once a red giant star reaches the horizontal branch, it achieves a new equilibrium and can sustain a circumstellar habitable zone, which in the case of the Sun would range from 7 to 22 AU.^[62] At such stage, Saturn's moon Titan would likely be habitable in the Earth sense.^[63] Given that this new equilibrium lasts for about 1 Gyr, and since life on Earth emerged by 0.7 Gyr from the formation of the Solar System at latest, life could conceivably develop on planetary mass objects in the habitable zone of red giants.^[62] However, around such a helium-burning star, important life processes like photosynthesis could only happen around planets where the atmosphere has been artificially seeded with carbon dioxide, as by the time a solar-mass star becomes a red giant, planetary-mass bodies would have already absorbed much of their free carbon dioxide.^[64]

Other considerations

A planet cannot have a hydrosphere—a key ingredient for the formation of carbon-based life—unless there is a source for water within its stellar system. The origin of water on Earth is still unknown, possible sources include the result of impacts with icy bodies, outgassing, mineralization, leakage from hydrous minerals from the lithosphere, and photolysis.^[65][66] For an extrasolar system, an icy body from beyond the frost line could migrate into the habitable zone of its star, creating an ocean planet with seas hundreds of kilometers deep^[67] such as GJ 1214 b^[68][69] or Kepler-22b may be.^[70]

Maintenance of liquid surface water also requires a sufficiently thick atmosphere. Possible origins of terrestrial atmospheres are currently theorised to outgassing, impact degassing and ingassing.^[71] Atmospheres are thought to be maintained through similar processes along with biogeochemical cycles and the mitigation of atmospheric escape.^[72] In a 2013 study led by Italian astronomer Giovanni Vladilo, it was shown that the size of the circumstellar habitable zone increased with greater atmospheric pressure.^[40] Below an atmospheric pressure of about 15 millibars, it was found that habitability could not be maintained^[40] because even a small shift in pressure or temperature could render water unable to form a liquid.^[73]

In the case of planets orbiting in the CHZs of red dwarf stars, the extremely close distances to the stars cause tidal locking, an important factor in habitability. For a tidally locked planet, the sidereal day is as long as the orbital period, causing one side to permanently face the host star while the other side faces away. In the past, such tidal locking was believed to cause extreme heat on the star-facing side and bitter cold on the opposite side, making many red dwarf planets uninhabitable; however, a 2013 paper written by geophysicist Jun Yang of the University of Chicago and collaborators, using three-dimensional climate models, showed that the side of a red dwarf planet facing the host star would have extensive cloud cover, increasing its Bond albedo and reducing significantly temperature differences between the two sides.^[49]

Planetary-mass natural satellites have the potential to be habitable as well. However, these bodies need to fulfill additional parameters, in particular being located within the circumplanetary habitable zones of their host planets.^[23] More specifically, planets need to be far enough from their host giant planets that they are not transformed by tidal heating into volcanic worlds like Io,^[23] but must still remain within the Hill radius of the planet so that they are not pulled out of orbit of their host planet.^[74] Red dwarfs that have masses less than 20 percent of that of the Sun cannot have habitable moons around giant planets, as the small size of the circumstellar habitable zone would put a habitable moon so close to a star that it would be stripped from its host planet. In such a system, a moon close enough to its host planet to maintain its orbit would have tidal heating so intense as to eliminate any prospects of habitability.^[23]

A planetary object that orbits a star with high orbital eccentricity may spend only some of its year in the CHZ would experience a large variation in temperature and atmospheric pressure. This would result in dramatic seasonal phase shifts where liquid water may exist only intermittently. It is possible that subsurface habitats could be insulated from such changes and that extremophiles on or near the surface might survive through adaptions such as hibernation (cryptobiosis) and/or hyperthermostability. Tardigrades, for example, can survive in a dehydrated state temperatures between 0.150 K (−273 °C)^[75] and 424 K (151 °C).^[76] Life on a planetary object orbiting outside CHZ might hibernate on the cold side as the planet approaches the apastron where the planet is coolest and become active on approach to the periastron when the planet is sufficiently warm.^[77]

Extrasolar discoveries

Studies that have attempted to estimate the number of terrestrial planets within the circumstellar habitable zone tend to reflect the availability of scientific data. A 2013 study by Ravi Kumar Kopparapu put η_e, the fraction of stars with planets in the CHZ, at 0.48,^[1] meaning that there may be roughly 95–180 billion habitable planets in the Milky Way.^[78] However, this is merely a statistical prediction; only a small fraction of these possible planets have yet been discovered.^[79]

Previous studies have been more conservative. In 2011, Seth Borenstein concluded that there are roughly 500 million habitable planets in the Milky Way.^[80] NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory 2011 study, based on observations from the Kepler mission, raised the number somewhat, concluding that about "1.4 to 2.7 percent" of all stars of spectral class F, G, and K are expected to have planets in their CHZs.^[81][82]

Early findings

The first discoveries of extrasolar planets in the CHZ occurred just a few years after the first extrasolar planets were discovered. One of the first discoveries was 70 Virginis b, a gas giant initially nicknamed "Goldilocks" due to it being neither "too hot" nor "too cold." Later study revealed temperatures analogous to Venus ruling out any potential for liquid water.^[83] 16 Cygni Bb, also discovered in 1996, has an extremely eccentric orbit that causes extreme seasonal effects on the planet's surface. In spite of this, simulations have suggested that it is possible for a terrestrial natural satellite to support water at its surface year-round.^[84]

Gliese 876 b, discovered in 1998, and Gliese 876 c, discovered in 2001, are both gas giants discovered in the habitable zone around Gliese 876. although they are not thought to themselves possess significant water at their surfaces, both may have habitable moons.^[85] Upsilon Andromedae d, discovered in 1999, is a gas giant in its star's circumstellar habitable zone considered to be large enough to favor the formation of large, Earth-like moons.^[86]

Announced on April 4, 2001, HD 28185 b is a gas giant found to orbit entirely within its star's circumstellar habitable zone^[87] and has a low orbital eccentricity, comparable to that of Mars in the Solar System.^[88] Tidal interactions suggest that HD 28185 b could harbor habitable Earth-mass satellites in orbit around it for many billions of years,^[89] though it is unclear whether such satellites could form in the first place.^[90]

HD 69830 d, a gas giant with 17 times the mass of the Earth, was in 2006 found orbiting within the circumstellar habitable zone of HD 69830, 41 light years away from Earth.^[91] The following year, 55 Cancri f was discovered within the CHZ of its host star 55 Cancri A.^[92][93] While conditions on this massive and dense planet are not conducive to the formation of water or life as we know it, a hypothetical moon of the planet with the proper mass and composition may be able to support liquid water at its surface.^[94]

Habitable super-Earths

The 2007 discovery of Gliese 581 c, the first super-Earth in the circumstellar habitable zone, created significant interest in the system by the scientific community, although the planet was later found to have surface conditions that likely resemble Venus more than Earth.^[95] Gliese 581 d, another planet in the same system and a better candidate for habitability, was also discovered in 2007. Though it receives only 30 percent of the stellar flux that the Earth gets from the Sun, a strong greenhouse effect may allow it to retain liquid water at its surface, thereby creating a water cycle and perhaps life.^{[30][96][97][98]} Gliese 581 g, yet another planet discovered in the circumstellar habitable zone of the system, has the best prospects for habitability of all three planets, but its existence has recently been put into doubt in a study by Mikko Tuomi,^[99] an analysis that was subsequently disputed.^[100][101] The planet is currently listed as unconfirmed by the Extrasolar Planets Encyclopedia.^[102]

Discovered in August 2011, HD 85512 b was initially believed to be habitable,^[103] but the new circumstellar-habitable-zone criteria devised by Kopparapu et al. in 2013 place the planet outside the circumstellar habitable zone.^[79] With an increase in the intensity of exoplanet discovery, the Earth Similarity Index was devised in October 2011 as a way of comparing planetary properties, such as surface temperature and density, to those of the Earth in order to better gauge the habitability of extrasolar bodies.^[104]

Kepler-22 b, discovered in December 2011 by the Kepler space probe,^[105] is the first transiting exoplanet discovered around a sunlike star. With a radius 2.4 times that of the Earth, Kepler-22b has been predicted by some to be an ocean planet.^[106] Gliese 667 Cc, discovered in 2011 but announced in 2012,^[107] is a super-Earth orbiting in the circumstellar habitable zone of Gliese 667 C. Subsequently in June 2013, two other habitable super-Earths orbiting the same star, Gliese 667 Cf and Gliese 667 Ce, were discovered in the CHZ.^[108]

Gliese 163 c, discovered in September 2012 in orbit around the red dwarf Gliese 163^[109] is located 49 light years from Earth. The planet has 6.9 Earth masses and 1.8–2.4 Earth radii, and with its close orbit receives 40 percent more stellar radiation than the Earth, leading to surface temperatures of about 60° C.^{[110][111][112]} HD 40307 g, a candidate planet tentatively discovered in November 2012, is in the circumstellar habitable zone of HD 40307.^[113] In December 2012, Tau Ceti e and Tau Ceti f were found in the circumstellar habitable zone of Tau Ceti, a sunlike star just 12 light years away.^[114] While more massive than Earth, they are among the least massive planets found to date orbiting in the zone;^[115] however, Tau Ceti f, like HD 85512 b, did not fit the new circumstellar-habitable-zone criteria established by the 2013 Kopparapu study.^[116]

On January 7, 2013, astronomers from the Kepler team announced the discovery of Kepler-69c (formerly KOI-172.02), an Earth-like exoplanet candidate (1.7 times the radius of Earth) orbiting Kepler-69, a star similar to our Sun, in the CHZ and a "prime candidate to host alien life".^{[117][118][119][120]} The discovery of two planets orbiting in the habitable zone of Kepler-62, by the Kepler team was announced on April 19, 2013. The planets, named Kepler-62e and Kepler-62f, are likely solid planets with sizes 1.6 and 1.4 times the diameter of earth, respectively.^{[119][120][121]}

Habitability outside the CHZ

Liquid water environments suitable for sustaining a diversity of organisms, both simple and complex, have been found to exist in isolation of atmospheric pressure and at temperatures outside of the CHZ temperature range. Titan and Europa, both outside of the habitable zone, possess significantly more liquid water than Earth.^[122]

In addition, testing of a number of organisms has found some are capable of surviving in extra-CHZ conditions.^[123]

Tidal heating and radioactive decay are two possible heat sources which could contribute to surface water environments outside of the CHZ.^[8][9] Abbot & Switzer (2011) put forward the possibility that surface water could exist on rogue systems through radioactive decay and tidal heating.^[11]

With some theorising that life on Earth may have actually originated beneath the surface in stable habitats protected from chaotic surface conditions early in the planet's history^[124][125] it has been suggested that it may be common for wet subsurface extraterrestrial habitats to 'teem with life'.^[126] Indeed, life on Earth is found more than 10 kilometres below the surface.^[127]

Alternatives to water

Another possibility is that outside of the CHZ organisms may use alternative biochemistries that do not require water at all. Astrobiologists, including NASA's Christopher McKay, have suggested that methane may be a solvent conducive to the development of "cryolife", with the Sun's methane habitable zone being centered on 1.6×10⁹ km (1,000,000,000 mi) from the star.^[12] This distance is coincidental with the location of Saturn's moon Titan, whose lakes and rain of methane make it an ideal location to find McKay's proposed cryolife.^[12]

Significance for complex and intelligent life

The Rare Earth hypothesis argues that complex and intelligent life is uncommon and that the CHZ is a critical factor. According to Ward & Brownlee (2004) and others, not only is a CHZ orbit and surface water a primary requirement to sustain life but a requirement to support the secondary conditions required for multicellular life to emerge and evolve. The secondary habitability factors are both geological (the role of surface water in sustaining necessary plate tectonics)^[21] and biochemical (the role of radiant energy in support photosynthesis for necessary atmospheric oxygenation).^[128] Though others, such as Ian Stewart and Jack Cohen in their 2002 book Evolving the Alien argue that complex intelligent life may arise outside of the CHZ.^[129] Intelligent life outside the CHZ may have evolved in subsurface environments, from alternative biochemistries^[129] or even from nuclear reactions.^[130] Complex multicellular life has been found with the potential to survive the sort of conditions that might exist outside of the CHZ. An animal example of such a life form is the tardigrade, which can withstand both temperatures well above the boiling point of water and the vacuum of outer space.^[131] In addition, the plant Rhizocarpon geographicum has been found to survive in an environment where the atmospheric pressure is far too low for surface liquid water and where the radiant energy is also much lower than that which most plants require to photosynthesize.^[132][133] If the human race, however, is to colonize other planets, true Earth analogs in the CHZ are most likely to provide the closest natural habitats for human beings; this concept was the basis of Stephen H. Dole's 1964 study. With suitable temperature, gravity, atmospheric pressure and the presence of water, the necessity of spacesuits may be eliminated and complex Earth-life can be allowed to flourish.^[18]

Planets in the CHZ remain of paramount interest to researchers looking for intelligent life elsewhere in the universe.^[134] The 1961 Drake equation, still used as means of calculating the number of intelligent civilizations in our galaxy, contains a parameter η_e, which is generally considered to imply the fraction of stars that have planetary mass objects orbiting within the CHZ. A low value lends support to the Rare Earth hypothesis, which posits that intelligent life is a rarity in the Universe, while a high value provides evidence for the Copernican mediocrity principle, the view that habitability—and therefore life—is common throughout the Universe.^[21] A 1971 NASA report by Drake and Bernard Oliver proposed the "waterhole", based on the spectral absorption lines of the hydrogen and hydroxyl components of water, as a good, obvious band for communication with extraterrestrial intelligence^[135][136] that has since been widely adopted by astronomers involved in the search for extraterrestrial intelligence. According to Jill Tarter, Margaret Turnbull and many others, CHZ candidates are the priority targets to narrow waterhole searches^[137][138] and the Allen Telescope Array now extends Project Phoenix to such candidates.^[139]

Since the CHZ is considered the most likely habitat for intelligent life, METI efforts have also been focused on systems likely to have planets there. The 2001 Teen Age Message and the 2003 Cosmic Call 2, for example, were sent to the 47 Ursae Majoris system, known to contain three Jupiter-mass planets and possibly with a terrestrial planet in the CHZ.^{[140][141][142][143]} The Teen Age Message, and the later Wow! reply, were also directed to the 55 Cancri system, which has a gas giant in its CHZ.^[92] A Message to Earth in 2008, and Hello From Earth in 2009, were directed to the Gliese 581 system, containing three planets in the CHZ—Gliese 581 c, d, and the unconfirmed g.^[144]

See also

References

External links

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