2004/02/25 by M. Jura
Physics and Astronomy · #Astronomy and Astrophysical Research #Astrophysics and Star Formation Studies #Stellar, planetary, and galactic studies #astro-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.1086/386549
published as Astrophys.J. 605 (2004) L65-L68 · 10 pages, 2 figures, accepted by ApJ Letters
arxiv created 2004/02/25 · openalex publication_date 2004/03/11 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2016/06/24 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
The increase with time in the luminosity of a main-sequence star can eventually lead to substantial evaporation of the oceans on an orbiting terrestrial planet. Subsequently, the gas-phase H 2 O in the planet's upper atmosphere can be photodissociated by stellar ultraviolet, and the resulting atomic hydrogen then may be lost in a wind. This gaseous envelope may pass in front of the host star and produce transient, detectable ultraviolet absorption in the Lyman lines in systems older than 1 Gyr.