Main ways in which stars influence the climate and surface habitability of their planets

TL;DR

This paper reviews how stars influence the climate and habitability of orbiting planets, focusing on spectral, spatial, and temporal flux variations, especially around solar-type and late M-stars, which are key for future exoplanet studies.

Contribution

It provides a comparative overview of stellar effects on planetary habitability, emphasizing the importance of star type differences, particularly for late M-stars, in assessing exoplanet potential.

Findings

Stellar flux variations significantly impact planetary atmospheres.

Late M-stars are promising targets for habitability studies.

Differences between solar-type and M-star systems affect climate models.

Abstract

We present a brief overview of the main effects by which a star will have an impact (positive or negative) on the surface habitability of planets in orbit around it. Specifically, we review how spectral, spatial and temporal variations in the incident flux on a planet can alter the atmosphere and climate of a planet and thus its surface habitability. For illustrative purposes, we emphasize the differences between planets orbiting solar-type stars and late M-stars. The latter are of particular interest as they constitute the first sample of potentially habitable exoplanets accessible for surface and atmospheric characterization in the coming years.