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Evolution of the Habitable Zone and Search for Life Around Red Giant Stars, Part I: Interest of the Study.

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 May 2006

B. Lopez ,
W. C. Danchi ,
J.-L. Menut ,
J. Rajagopal ,
J. Schneider ,
A. Belu  and
R. Barry
B. Lopez
Affiliation:
Observatoire de la Cote d'Azur, BP 4229, 06304 Nice Cedex 4, France
W. C. Danchi
Affiliation:
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Exoplanets and Stellar Astrophysics Lab., Code 667, Greenbelt, MD 20771, USA
J.-L. Menut
Affiliation:
Observatoire de la Cote d'Azur, BP 4229, 06304 Nice Cedex 4, France
J. Rajagopal
Affiliation:
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Exoplanets and Stellar Astrophysics Lab., Code 667, Greenbelt, MD 20771, USA University of Maryland, Astronomy Department, College Park, MD 20742, USA
J. Schneider
Affiliation:
Observatoire de Paris, Paris, France
A. Belu
Affiliation:
University of Nice - Sophia Antipolis, LUAN, Parc Valrose, 06108 Nice Cedex 2, France
R. Barry
Affiliation:
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Exoplanets and Stellar Astrophysics Lab., Code 667, Greenbelt, MD 20771, USA The Johns Hopkins University, Physics and Astronomy Dept., Baltimore, MD 21218, USA
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Abstract

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We discuss the evolution of the habitable zone around low mass and intermediate mass stars as they evolve off the main sequence. This work shows that this class of stars should be included in the search for life because if planets could be found in their habitable zones, they will allow to test different hypothesis concerning the conditions of life formation. For instance if these planets show traces for life, it is possible to empirically determine a lower limit to the timescale for the formation of life. This time scale is not well determined from the Earth's study, as life formation initially occurred during a period of heavy bombardment from comets and asteroids during the formation of the solar system. We will summarize (to the best of our knowledge) some of the recent results concerning the early signs of life on Earth. We will present some of our work in progress in which we evaluate the effects of stellar evolution on the habitable zone changes.

Keywords

instrumentation: planets and satellites: generalhigh angular resolutiontechniques: interferometricspace vehicles: instruments
Type
Contributed Papers
Information
Proceedings of the International Astronomical Union , Volume 1 , Colloquium C200: Direct Imaging of Exoplanets: Science & Techniques , October 2005 , pp. 93 - 98
Copyright
© 2006 International Astronomical Union