Myths and Fallacies of the Habitable Zone: Finding a New Earth: Exoplanets & Habitability

Over the past few decades, hundreds of new planetary systems have been discovered, many of which show remarkable diversity compared with our own Solar System. A key step towards characterizing these planets is the determination of which planets occupy the Habitable Zone (HZ) of their host stars. In this talk Professor Kane will describe the properties of the HZ, the dependence on the stellar properties, and the current state of exoplanet detections in the HZ. Along the way Professor Kane will attempt to dispel some common misconceptions regarding the Habitable Zone. Finally, Professor Kane will present several case studies of HZ Kepler planets, including circumbinary planets for which the HZ is a time-dependent function.

Speaker: Stephen Kane, San Francisco State University