On the Habitability of Teegarden’s Star planets

Amri Wandel, Lev Tal-Or

(Submitted on 18 Jun 2019)

We study the habitability of the two 1-2 Earth-mass planets, recently detected by the CARMENES collaboration, around the ultra-cool nearby M dwarf Teegarden’s Star. With orbital periods of 4.9 and 11.4 days, both planets are likely to be within the Habitable Zone and tidally locked. They are among the most Earth-like exoplanets yet discovered. Applying an analytical habitability model we find that surface liquid water could be present on both planets for a wide range of atmospheric properties, which makes them attractive targets for bio-signature searches. The prospects of the planets retaining such an atmosphere over their history are discussed.

Comments: 7 pages, 2 figures, submitted to ApJL

Subjects: Earth and Planetary Astrophysics (astro-ph.EP)

Cite as: arXiv:1906.07704 [astro-ph.EP] (or arXiv:1906.07704v1 [astro-ph.EP] for this version)

Submission history

From: Amri Wandel 

[v1] Tue, 18 Jun 2019 17:34:46 UTC (862 KB)

https://arxiv.org/abs/1906.07704

Astrobiology