OEA4

Stars, Planets and Habitability
Convener: Elke Pilat-Lohinger  | Co-Convener: Helmut Lammer 
Oral Program
 / Fri, 24 Sep, 08:30–10:00  / Room Lecture Room 2
Poster Program
 / Attendance Thu, 23 Sep, 17:30–19:00  / Poster Area

The study of habitability is certainly an interdisciplinary venture including astrophysical, biological geophysical and chemical studies. In this session we will analyze the astrophysical point of view. The so-called habitable zone (HZ) of a planetary system is defined as the region around a star where liquid water is stable on the surface of an Earth-like planet. Therefore, we will discuss the following basic requirements for habitability:
(i) the stellar influence on the distance of the HZ,
(ii) the mass, the composition and the atmosphere of a possible habitable planet and
(iii) the long-term stability of planetary systems.
Furthermore, contributions about the detection of Earth-size planets -- including observations of CoRoT and Kepler as well as ground-based observations and futur missions like GAIA -- will be of great interest, to show what might be possible in this field of research in the next future.