2016/05/16 by Ramses M. Ramirez, Ramses Ramirez, Lisa Kaltenegger · 2 citations
Physics and Astronomy · #Astronomy and Astrophysical Research #Asymptotic giant branch #Circumstellar habitable zone #Habitability of orange dwarf systems #Main sequence #Planet #Planetary habitability #Planetary system #Space Science and Extraterrestrial Life #Stars #Stellar collision #Stellar evolution #Stellar, planetary, and galactic studies #astro-ph.EP
paper · pdf · doi:10.3847/0004-637x/823/1/6
published as ApJ, volume 823:6, 14pp May 20, 2016 · Published in The Astrophysical Journal (28 pages, 7 figures, 8 tables)
arxiv created 2016/05/16 · openalex publication_date 2016/05/16 · arxiv updated 2016/05/18 · openalex created_date 2016/06/24 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
ABSTRACT Once a star leaves the main sequence and becomes a red giant, its Habitable Zone (HZ) moves outward, promoting detectable habitable conditions at larger orbital distances. We use a one-dimensional radiative-convective climate and stellar evolutionary models to calculate post-MS HZ distances for a grid of stars from 3700 to 10,000 K (∼M1 to A5 stellar types) for different stellar metallicities. The post-MS HZ limits are comparable to the distances of known directly imaged planets. We model the stellar as well as planetary atmospheric mass loss during the Red Giant Branch (RGB) and Asymptotic Giant Branch (AGB) phases for super-Moons to super-Earths. A planet can stay between 200 million years up to 9 Gyr in the post-MS HZ for our hottest and coldest grid stars, respectively, assuming solar metallicity. These numbers increase for increased stellar metallicity. Total atmospheric erosion only occurs for planets in close-in orbits. The post-MS HZ orbital distances are within detection capabilities of direct imaging techniques.