Brian Jackson

Associate Professor of Physics at Boise State University

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AAS 225 — Day 2

Posted by admin on January 8, 2015
Posted in: Meetings. Tagged: aas225.
Blue glacial ice. From http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/10/JoekullsarlonBlueBlockOfIce.jpg.

Blue glacial ice. From http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/10/JoekullsarlonBlueBlockOfIce.jpg.

I really enjoyed Aomawa Shields‘s dissertation talk in the “Extrasolar Planets: Host Stars and Interactions” session, in which she discussed how different stellar types could influence the climates of putative Earth-like planets.

She highlighted how the ice-albedo feedback would operate differently on planets orbiting M-dwarfs as compared to those orbiting F-stars. Since they are so cool, M-dwarfs shine primarily in infrared (IR) wavelengths, while F-stars are much hotter and emit in the visible and ultraviolet (UV). At the same time, water ice primarily absorbs IR but reflects visible light.

Therefore, around an M-dwarf, the ice on an Earth-like planet’s surface would absorb a lot of the stellar insolation, heating the planet, while around an F-star, the ice would reflect it, keeping the planet cool. As a consequence, Shields argued that M-dwarf planets have climates more stable against global ice ages than F-star planets. So although there may be other challenges to life on an M-dwarf planet, climate stability is probably not one of them.

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