Hot Moons and Cool Stars
Ren\'e Heller (1), Rory Barnes (2,3) ((1) Leibniz Institute for, Astrophysics Potsdam (AIP), Germany, (2) University of Washington, Seattle,, USA, (3) NASA Astrobiology Institute, VPL Lead Team, USA)
TL;DR
This paper reviews methods for detecting and characterizing habitable exomoons, emphasizing their potential abundance and unique thermal properties due to tidal heating around cool stars.
Contribution
It provides a comprehensive overview of observational techniques and discusses the potential habitability and thermal characteristics of exomoons in habitable zones.
Findings
Exomoons could be as common as habitable planets.
Tidal heating may cause habitable moons around cool stars to appear hot.
Detection techniques are rapidly advancing with Kepler data.
Abstract
The exquisite photometric precision of the Kepler space telescope now puts the detection of extrasolar moons at the horizon. Here, we firstly review observational and analytical techniques that have recently been proposed to find exomoons. Secondly, we discuss the prospects of characterizing potentially habitable extrasolar satellites. With moons being much more numerous than planets in the solar system and with most exoplanets found in the stellar habitable zone being gas giants, habitable moons could be as abundant as habitable planets. However, satellites orbiting planets in the habitable zones of cool stars will encounter strong tidal heating and likely appear as hot moons.
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