Question

Imagine you're in charge of a project aimed at discovering exoplanets that have the highest chances of supporting complex life forms. Use the Milky Way Habitability Explorer and the Circumstellar Habitable Zone Simulator to provide a rational for where in the Milky Way you would look for these exoplanets and what criteria you would look for. Be sure to consider each of the following:

•Existential threats to planets. •Availability of planet-building materials. •Size of the CHZ. •Amount of time spend in the CHZ. •Tidal locking.

Answer 1

The criterias to look for are:

1) Low mass planets are easier to detect as these stars are more affected by gravitational tug from planets. Also these planets rotate relatively slowly which gives better spectral line data . For these stars habitable zone will be the region surrounding the star in which water can remain in its liquid state.

2) Detecting planets around more stars which are massive is easier if the star has left the main sequence, because leaving the main sequence slows down the star's rotation. For massive mass, hotter stars, the region is more distant from the sta the Earth appears to be in the centre of the habitable zone for the Sun.

Most of stars exoplanets are supposed to be searched in belts of  F, G, K, or M stars. O, B, and most A stars live such short lifetimes that assume that these planets will not be able to create and develop complex life forms.

Planetary formation models suggest the initial rotation of a planet could be for several hours, perhaps even several weeks, and if the atmostphere is present with winds across a planet’s surface could lessen and moderate these effects and allow for moderate climates and life.