Monash University School of Physics and Astronomy

Topic 5

ASP1022 Topic 5
Habitable Zones
Image credit: NASA; Robert Simmon & Reto Stckli

The concept of habitability

The main goal of our unit is to consider the question Is there
intelligent life elsewhere in the Universe? Our question for
this topic is How many of those planets are capable of
supporting life?
We will look at the science of life and its requirements in
more depth in other lectures. For now, we will assume that
we are interested in looking for life as we know it.
There are five major requirements we need to consider:

Access to elements that make up living systems

Access to a liquid solvent (e.g. water)
An energy source
A stable climate
A long-lived host star
Fig. 5.1 Earth from space.

The main elements required are carbon, oxygen, hydrogen and nitrogen. These are readily found throughout
the Solar System1, and we have no reason to assume that they are harder to find elsewhere.
In an earlier lecture, we determined that a star with a suitable lifetime to allow life to arise would have a mass
in the range 0.4 to 2 M.
We will concentrate the rest of our deliberations on single stars as they are the simplest2, and we expect that
they will have the majority of stable orbits. We are therefore left to consider the need for an energy source
and liquid water.
Water-based life generally requires a temperature range of 0-100oC. (This range is for pressures at terrestrial
sea level; planets with significantly different gravities or geography would have different temperature ranges
for liquid water). Biological cells on Earth use water to dissolve other chemical compounds, to transport
nutrients, and to carry off wastes. It is conceivable that life elsewhere might use other solvents. Some
possibilities are given below.

Substance

Freezing point

Boiling point

Liquid range

Water (H2O)

0 oC

100oC

100oC

Ammonia (NH3)

-78oC

-33oC

45oC

Methane (CH4)

-182oC

-164oC

18oC

Ethane (C2H6)

-183oC

-89oC

94oC

Table 5.1: Physical properties of common solvents

From Table 5.1 we can see that water has a lot going for it! It is liquid over the widest range of temperatures.
Ethane would probably be our second choice, and in practical terms it is liquid over a similar temperature
range. There is, however, one important difference: ethane is a liquid only at very low temperatures. We
need an energy source to drive the chemical reactions of life, especially in the early stages. It is difficult to
1

Amino acids have even been found on meteorites and in comet tails.

Is this a reasonable limitation to apply to our search for life elsewhere in the Galaxy?

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see temperatures of -100oC being sufficient3, so again we come out in favour of water. We conclude that in
all likelihood, the search for a planet with a habitable surface is equivalent to looking for planets where liquid
water is present on, or near, the surface.
Simple case: No atmosphere
We will define the habitable zone of a star to be the region around it where it is reasonable to expect that
liquid water could exist on a planet's surface. It is a region, or zone (rather than a specific point), because
there is a large temperature range over which water is a liquid, and hence a range of possible orbits where a
habitable planet could be found.

The main factor4 which determines a particular star's habitable zone is the star's luminosity. This determines
the flux of radiant energy at any particular distance from the star, and hence (at least in part) determines the
temperature range on the surface of any planet (or moon) residing at that distance.
Recall that the flux of energy is the amount of energy passing
through a given area per unit time. For example, we can
calculate the flux of energy at the Earth as follows:
Given that the luminosity of the Sun (the energy it radiates per
second) is 3.8x1026 W, then we can see that the flux (F) of
energy passing through each square metre, every second, at a
distance 1AU from the Sun is:

Fig. 5.2: Habitable Zone diagram

F =

L
=
4 d2
4

3.8 1026
= 1362 J s
(1.49 1011 )2

where 4d2 is the surface area of a sphere of radius d.

We will make use of this formula to estimate the surface temperature of a planet orbiting a star.
Other factors which determine the surface temperature of a planet include:
The presence or absence of an atmosphere
The composition of such an atmosphere
The rotation rate of the planet
The albedo of the planet
The obliquity of the planet
The eccentricity of the planet's orbit

Albedo: the fraction of incident light (summed over all

wavelengths) which is reflected by the planet (surface
and/or atmosphere).
Obliquity: The tilt angle of the planet's spin axis with
respect to its orbit around the star.
Flux: The energy per unit area measured at some point
in space. Generally measured in W/m2.
Luminosity: The total energy output of the star, usually
measured in Watts (Joules/second)

Just because it's difficult to imagine, it doesn't mean that it's impossible!

The main factor, not the only factor!

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To get an idea of the surface temperature of a planet orbiting a star of given luminosity, we will make a few
assumptions.
1.
2.
3.
4.

The albedo of the planet is zero: that is, it absorbs all the radiation incident upon it, and reflects none;
The planet has no atmosphere;
The radiation absorbed is distributed evenly over the whole planet;
The planet's orbit is circular.

So we are assuming that all the incident radiation from the star is absorbed by the planet, and that the planet
heats up until it reaches an equilibrium temperature, T, after which it re-radiates as much energy as it
absorbs (this is what is meant by being in equilibrium). The flux that it re-radiates can be written in terms of
equilibrium temperature, and can be determined by the formula:

FP = T 4
where is the Stefan-Boltzmann constant, 5.67x10-8 J s-1 m-2 K-4.
If we know the flux of energy from the host star, we can determine the flux re-radiated by a planet which is
orbiting it (the same is true for the case of zero albedo), and we can calculate the temperature of the planet
using this formula.
Again, let's use the Earth as an example. Keep in mind the simplifying assumptions made above, the first
two of which don't apply to Earth!
The flux formula above gives us the flux of energy, F, at the Earth; that is, the amount of energy passing
through each square metre per second. Since the star in question is the Sun, the energy is mostly in the
form of yellow light. The amount of energy being absorbed by Earth during one second must be F times the
area of a circle of radius R, the radius of Earth. This is illustrated in Fig. 5.3.

Fig. 5.3: Earth will intercept radiation from the Sun according to its cross-sectional area, (R)2, where R is Earth's
radius.

Since the amount of energy re-radiated by Earth per second is the same as that absorbed per second (the
system is in equilibrium), then we must have:
energy in / sec = energy out / sec

R2 F = (4 R2 )(T 4 )
We don't need to know the Earth's radius because R is present on both sides of our equation, and so
cancels out. We can then solve our equation for the temperature of Earth.

T =

F
4

14

1362
5.67 10

41

= 278 K = 5o C

This is not too far from the truth!

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The Solar System's habitable zone

The true habitable zone of a planetary system actually depends on many factors, but trying to include them
can make things very complicated!5 For now, we'll ignore them and just estimate the habitable zone of a
'simplified' Solar System.
Using the equations above, we can estimate the distance of the inner edge of the Sun's habitable zone by
using T=100o C (373 K).
So we have:

F=

L
4 d2

F = 4 T4

If we combine these (substitute for F, then rearrange for d), we get:

d=

L
16 T 4

16

3.8
5.67

1026
10 8

(373)4

= 8.3

1010 m

You should be able to rearrange the formulae. If you cant, ask your lecturer or tutor
for help.
We generally measure distances within planetary systems using Astronomical
Units (AU). Remember, 1 AU is the average distance from Earth to the Sun, and

8.3
1.5

1010
= 0.55AU
1011

It's not really as

complicated as it looks!
Calculate T4, then multiply it by
the other numbers on the
bottom of the fraction.

is roughly 1.50x1011 m. So the inner edge of the Sun's habitable

zone lies at:

This is between the orbits of Mercury and Venus. We can do a

similar calculation to find the outer edge of the habitable zone. In
this case, we need the temperature to be 0o C (or 273 K).
Substituting this temperature into the formula gives us
dout = 1.04 AU, just beyond Earth's orbit.
This implies that Mars (dMars = 1.52 AU) lies outside the Sun's habitable zone.
Remember though, that we have used a number of assumptions in these calculations
Comparative Planetology
Perhaps the next biggest influence on a planet's habitability, after its star and location, is the presence or
absence of an atmosphere. We'll look at the terrestrial planets in our Solar System to see just how important
an atmosphere can be.
Mercury is definitely too close to the Sun to be habitable, so we'll just consider Venus, Earth and Mars.
Table 5.2 shows some of the properties of these planets.

If you'd like to see how complicated, look at the article by Tarter et al, Astrobiology 2006, 7, 30 (available here: http://
astrobiology.ciw.edu/publications.php?id=29 (accessed 2nd Nov 2009).

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It quickly becomes apparent that despite the popular obsession with life on Mars, Venus is actually more
similar to Earth in many of its properties. But why the big difference in temperature between the three
worlds?

Image credits:
NASA, GSFC, J. Bell
(Cornell U.) and M. Wolff
(SSI)

Mass (M)

0.82

0.11

Radius (R)

0.95

0.53

Orbit (AU)

0.72

1.52

Gravity (g)

0.91

0.38

Surface temp (oC/K)

462o C (735 K)

15o C (288 K)

-50o C (223 K)

Table 5.2: Data for Terrestrial planets. Information from NASA Solar System Exploration pages
(http://solarsystem.nasa.gov accessed 22/12/08).

The Greenhouse effect

When light (energy) from the Sun reaches a planet, some fraction passes through the atmosphere and
reaches the surface. Of this, some is absorbed and the rest is reflected back into space. The amounts
absorbed and reflected at each stage depend on the wavelengths involved and the albedo of the reflectors
(the atmosphere, clouds, land mass, oceans etc). The opacity of Earth's atmosphere to different wavelengths
is shown in Fig. 5.4.

Fig. 5.4: Opacity/transparency of Earth's atmosphere to different wavelengths. (Image credit: NASA)

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Much of the radiation which arrives at the Earth's surface is in the form of visible light (and lower-energy
radio waves). The energy which is absorbed is re-emitted in the form of infra-red radiation.
Many gases in the atmosphere are good at absorbing infra-red radiation. Hence, when the photons try to
escape Earth, they are absorbed by gases in the atmosphere. This causes the gas molecules to vibrate,
which acts to heat the rest of the atmosphere. The infra-red photons are re-emitted, but there is a good
chance they will be absorbed by another gas molecule before they can escape. Carbon dioxide (CO2), water
vapour (H2O) and methane (CH4) all act as 'greenhouse gases'. So while the Earth is trying to establish an
equilibrium by radiating away the energy which it absorbs from the Sun, the atmosphere has its own effect.
(Consider now the assumptions made in the calculations above. Were they justified?)
We can develop models to determine the magnitude of the greenhouse effect for
each of the three terrestrial planets. (These are very complex so we won't
reproduce them here, just the results). Similar models are being produced to
make predictions about the future of Earth due to global warming and climate
change.
Planet

Actual
Taverage

Taverage (no
greenhouse)

We always need to
consider what assumptions
have gone into any calculation
or model. Practice this skill when
reading news articles!

Taverage

Venus

470oC

-4oC

+513oC

Earth

15oC

-17oC

+32oC

Mars

-50oC

-55oC

+5oC

Table 5.3: Data for Terrestrial planets. Information from NASA Solar
System Exploration pages

But why is the greenhouse effect so much stronger on Venus than on Earth or Mars?
The problem with Mars is simple: it's just too small. Its low mass means that it has a low surface gravity (see
Table 5.2), only about 30% that of Earth. This allows heavier molecules, such as the greenhouse gases
discussed above, to escape into space. Some of the planet's water remains frozen on, or just below the
surface, and there is a very thin CO2 atmosphere (the surface pressure --1 kPa-- is approximately 0.1% that
of Earth), but not enough to keep the planet warm. Its small size means that most of the planet's internal
heat will have been lost quickly too. A more massive planet in the same orbit could well have been habitable.
On the other hand, Venus is quite similar to Earth, yet it has no oceans and an atmosphere which is 96.5%
CO2, and a surface temperature several hundred degrees hotter. There are two key factors which differ
between the 'sister planets': location and the ability to store carbon.

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Fig. 5.5: The greenhouse effect. (http://maps.grida.no/go/graphic/greenhouse-effect).

The Carbon Cycle

On Earth, the atmosphere is largely regulated by the carbon cycle. It is likely that the Earth's early
atmosphere was not too dissimilar to that of Venus, but over time it has changed. This will be discussed in
more detail in another topic.
The carbon cycle is shown in Fig. 5.6, and includes five main steps (this is a massive simplification!):
CO2 from the atmosphere dissolves in the oceans
Rainfall erodes silicate rocks and carries minerals to the oceans
Silicates react with the dissolved CO2 to form carbonate minerals which sink to the ocean floor
Plate tectonics carries the carbonates to subduction zones where they are taken into the Earth's mantle.
Some rocks melt and their carbon is returned to the atmosphere in the form of CO2 through volcanoes.

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Fig. 5.6: The Carbon Cycle. Values are gigatonnes (109) of carbon/year. Image credit: NASA Earth Observatory.

The carbon cycle acts as thermostat to regulate Earth's temperature. If Earth warms up, then the formation
rate of carbonate minerals increases, which increases the rate at which oceans can absorb CO2. This then
removes it from the atmosphere, weakening the greenhouse effect and cooling the planet. Conversely, a
cooler temperature slows the rate of formation of carbonates, hence less CO2 is stored in the oceans, the
atmospheric CO2 content increases, and Earth warms up again.
Water on Venus
The differences between Venus and Earth, then, appear to be mostly due to the operation of the CO2 cycle
on Earth. It cannot operate on Venus because there are no oceans - but why is this?
Current estimates show that although there is some water vapour on Venus, it is less than 0.1% of the water
content on Earth. Where did all the water go?
The oceans on Earth arose, we think6, from outgassing of water in volcanic rocks. We would expect the
same to have occurred on other planets, including Venus and Mars. Mars was not massive enough to retain
its atmosphere, and the gases were lost to space. Venus, however, should be able to retain its water as the
surface gravity is similar to that of Earth.
The answer is location. Venus probably did look a lot like Earth initially, but being closer to the Sun it would
have been hotter during the time when its atmosphere was forming from outgassing. Relative to Earth, a
higher fraction of Venus's water would be in vapour form. This would add to the greenhouse effect on Venus
(something also present on Earth). Neither planet would have had an ozone layer to protect the lower
atmosphere from UV photons. This high-energy radiation is able to break down the bonds between hydrogen
6

"Who thinks?", "What assumptions did they make?", "How did they reach this conclusion?" These are all questions you
should be asking yourself at this point!

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and oxygen atoms in water (photodissociation). Hydrogen atoms and molecules are too light to be retained
in the atmosphere of either Venus or Earth, and are lost to space, preventing any further formation of water
molecules. (See Lammer et al, 2006, Planetary and Space Science, 54, 1425 for a detailed discussion).
So to summarise: Venus, being closer to the Sun and hotter than Earth had a higher proportion of its water in
the atmosphere, and was exposed to a higher UV flux to destroy the water. Over time the water disappears
until only a tiny fraction of it is left.
On Earth, the cooler temperatures resulted in a lower fraction of water vapour in the atmosphere, and the
greater distance to the Sun meant less UV to dissociate the atmospheric water molecules, allowing them to
condense into rain and fall back onto the surface to form oceans.
If we were to move Earth from its current position to that of Venus we would find that:
Initial temperature of approximately 30oC
Some evaporation of water from the oceans, resulting in
Reduced efficiency of the carbon cycle, so build up of CO2 in the atmosphere
More heating
More evaporation
More greenhouse effect
At the same time, the enhanced UV flux would break down water molecules in the atmosphere, preventing
them from re-condensing. Eventually the surface would dry up and the planet would resemble Venus.
The Sun's Habitable Zone
It is not quite as simple to determine a star's habitable zone as we first thought. The effect of the atmosphere
is crucial. The atmosphere, in turn, depends on the mass of the planet and its distance from the star.
For the operation of the CO2 cycle, we think we need plate tectonics. At present we don't understand the
relationship between a planet's mass, radius and tectonic activity, which limits the accuracy of our predictions
about habitable zones7.
Nevertheless, we can make some progress. It is clear that Venus was too close to the Sun; a runaway
greenhouse effect is likely for any planet at that distance. Theoretical models predict that a planet should not
be closer than 0.84 AU if a runaway greenhouse effect is to be avoided. We will take this as the inner edge of
the habitable zone.
What about the outer edge? We would probably guess that Mars was not habitable, but its problem is that it
is just not massive enough. A more massive planet which could hold on to its atmosphere could have a
chance at being habitable. Again, theoretical models of the greenhouse effect on planets suggest that the
outer edge of the habitable zone could be 1.7 to 2 AU.

Sun
Mercury's
Orbit
Venus'
Orbit

Fig. 5.7: The habitable zone for the

Solar System is believed to extend
from just outside the orbit of Venus to
just outside the orbit of Mars.

Earth's
Orbit
Mars'
Orbit

Habitable Zones around other stars

Work by Stamekovic et al. in 2009 (New Scientist, 7th Sept 2009 issue) suggests that planets need to be approximately
Earth-mass and size in order to have both magnetic fields and plate tectonics. It is possible that other mechanisms could
recycle the crust though.

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We can use the results we have derived for the Sun as a guide to the habitable zones around other stars.
Stars of different mass will have different luminosities (as we have seen: more massive stars are brighter,
and LM3). Since the luminosity will vary with the square of the distance (an inverse-square law) we can
scale the results from the Sun to other stars. A star of luminosity L will therefore have a habitable zone
between Rinner and Router where:

and

Rinner =

(L/L )Rinner,Sun =

(L/L)

0.8 AU

Router =

(L/L )Router,Sun =

(L/L)

1.7 AU

Recall that we are only interested in stars with masses between 0.5 M and
2 M. This corresponds to spectral types from A2 to M0. With estimates for
their luminosities, we can estimate the locations of their habitable zones
using the equations above. Here are the results:

Spectral
Type

L
(L)

Rinner
(AU)

Router
(AU)

A5

24

4.2

8.3

F0

2.5

5.1

F5

1.7

3.4

G0

1.5

G2

0.84

1.7

G5

0.7

0.71

1.4

K0

0.4

0.51

K5

0.2

0.36

0.7

M0

0.1

0.22

0.4

Make sure you remember

why we use those limits, and
what we mean by spectral
types!

You should not have too much faith in these

numbers, but they provide some idea of what's
happening.
One thing we have ignored in this table is what
happens when a planet gets too close to its star. In
this case, the planet will become tidally locked, and
will always show the same face to the star8. At first
glance this will make it a poor candidate for life9.

Table 5.4: An estimate of habitable zone region for stars of

different spectral type.

Fig. 5.8: Predicted habitable zones around stars

of different spectral type. The data was used to
plan NASA's Kepler mission which is searching
for habitable planets. Note the tidal-locking radius
which also varies with the mass of the star.
Image credit: Kasting et al. Icarus 1993

The Moon is tidally locked to Earth. Mercury is tidally locked to the Sun in a 3:2 resonance - for every two orbits, it turns
on its axis 3 times.
9

We will discuss this more later.

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In addition to the complications discussed above, stellar luminosities also vary as stars age. The Sun's
energy output has almost doubled since it was born. This means that the location of a habitable zone
will also vary as the star ages, as can be seen in Fig. 5.9.

Fig. 5.9: The variation of habitable zones with time as

the host star ages. The lines terminate when the star
leaves the main sequence and becomes a red giant.

Be careful! Just because something is in a star's habitable zone, it will not automatically be habitable!
Places outside a habitable zone could also sustain life if the conditions are right! A literal interpretation of
these results can be dangerous if you don't think about them carefully.
Galactic habitable zones
One of the Sun's unusual features is that its orbit around the centre of the Galaxy is almost circular. It is less
eccentric than many stars of similar age and type. Furthermore, it is barely inclined relative to the Galactic
plane. These features prevent the Sun from plunging into the inner Galaxy where life-threatening
supernovae are more common. A supernova explosion nearby would bathe Earth in high-energy radiation,
which would almost certainly be fatal for most, if not all, life on the planet. Also, the small inclination to the
Galactic plane avoids abrupt crossings through the plane (the Galactic disc) which could stir up the Sun's
Oort cloud and bombard Earth with life-threatening comets.
In fact, the Sun is orbiting very close to what is called the co-rotation radius of the Galaxy, where the angular
speed of the Galaxy's spiral arms matches the speed of the stars within. As a result, the Sun does not pass
through the spiral arms very often, which again prevents additional exposure to supernovae.
These exceptional (we think!) circumstances might have made it more likely for complex life - and ultimately
human intelligence - to arise on Earth. It is estimated that fewer than five percent of all stars in our Galaxy
have similar orbits. This has led to the concept of a Galactic Habitable Zone where stars (and their planets)
are more likely to have a 'quiet' life!

Points to ponder
What is a habitable zone?
What factors affect the location of a habitable zone?
Why is Earth habitable while Venus and Mars are not?
How could we define different habitable zones?
Does 'in the habitable zone' mean 'definitely habitable'? Why/why not?

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