A target list for searching for habitable exomoons

TL;DR

This paper develops a method to identify exoplanets that are most likely to host habitable moons by calculating energy budgets and habitability probabilities, providing a prioritized target list for future observations.

Contribution

It introduces a Monte Carlo-based approach to estimate habitable exomoon probabilities and compiles a target list of promising exoplanets for habitable moon searches.

Findings

Top 10 exoplanets with >50% chance of habitable moons

Kepler-62f and Kepler-16b identified as prime candidates

Provides a prioritized target list for observational efforts

Abstract

We investigate the habitability of hypothethical moons orbiting known exoplanets. This study focuses on big, rocky exomoons that are capable of maintaining a significant atmosphere. To determine their habitability, we calculate the incident stellar radiation and the tidal heating flux arising in the moons as the two main contributors to the energy budget. We use the runaway greenhouse and the maximum greenhouse flux limits as a definition of habitability. For each exoplanet we run our calculations for plausible ranges of physical and orbital parameters for the moons and the planet using a Monte Carlo approach. We calculate the moon habitability probability for each planet which is the fraction of the investigated cases that lead to habitable conditions. Based on our results, we provide a target list for observations of known exoplanets of which the top 10 planets have more than 50\% chance for hosting habitable moons on stable orbits. Two especially promising candidates are Kepler-62~f and Kepler-16~b, both of them with known masses and radii. Our target list can help to detect the first habitable exomoon.