Understanding Planetary Habitability Pop-Up Institute Events
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Week 1 – Origin of Life
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Despite enormous advances in our understanding in many areas of biology, the origin of life remains an unsolved problem. Some questions to be addressed in week 1 include:
- Where did life originate? Undersea vents, hot springs, impact craters, or elsewhere?
- How are the precursors for life produced?
- How does abiotic chemistry make the transition to a system that can replicate and evolve?
- What does current life tell us about the habitat and metabolism of the Last Universal Common Ancestor (LUCA)?
Organizers
- David Hoffman
- Sean Gulick
- Cornelia Rasmussen
Speakers
- Laurie Barge, Research Scientist, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology
- David Kring, Senior Staff Scientist, USRA Lunar and Planetary Institute
- Loren Williams, Professor, Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry, Georgia Institute of Technology
Resources and Event Photos
Background Reading
- The Origin of Life: Models and Data (Kathryn A. Lanier and Loren Dean Williams)
- Frozen in Time: The History of Proteins (Nicholas A. Kovacs, et al.)
- The Habitability of Our Earth and Other Earths: Astrophysical, Geochemical, Geophysical, and Biological Limits on Planet Habitability (Charles H. Lineweaver and Aditya Chopra)
- The Habitability of Our Evolving Galaxy (Michael G. Gowanlock and Ian S. Morrison)
- The Astrobiology Primer v2.0 (Shawn D. Domagal-Goldman and Katherine E. Wright)
Presentation
- Perspectives from Planetary Atmospheres (L. M. Trafton)
- Biochemistry for Astronomers (David Hoffman)
- Life & Tectonics (Nicholas W. Hayman)
- The Horrible Origin of Life (Loren Williams)
Photos
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Week 2 – Planetary Dynamics
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After the first workshop On the Origin of Lifediscussed the conditions that are required for the emergence of life, the second workshop will investigate where these conditions are likely to exist. Therefore, the workshop Planetary Dynamicswill bring together astronomers, geoscientists and astrobiologists to investigate: What types of planetary systems and what bodies within them are likely to provide conditions conducive to the development of life?
The charge of this workshop is very broad and ranges from questions about the stability and interactions of planetary orbits, to questions about the internal structure of the bodies, their tectonic activity, and the persistence of liquid water. This workshop will bring together local and international experts to identify the most relevant and urgent questions that are critical to understand where life can develop.
Organizers
Speakers
- Konstantin Batygin, Assistant Professor, Caltech
- Ed Kite, Assistant Professor, University of Chicago
- Adrian Lenardic, Professor, Rice University
- Renu Malhotra, Louise Foucar Marshall Science Research Professor, Regents’ Professor of Planetary Sciences, University of Arizona
Resources and Event Photos
Background Reading
- Pb–Pb Chronometry and the Early Solar System (J.N. Connelly, et al.)
- The Absolute Chronology and Thermal Processing of Solids in the Solar Protoplanetary Disk (James N. Connelly, et al.)
- The Limits of Organic Life in Planetary Systems (National Research Council)
- Dynamical Evolution of Planetary Systems (Alessandro Morbidelli)
- Emergence of a Habitable Planet (Kevin Zahnle, et al.)
Presentation
- Current Narrative Solar System (Konstantin Batygin)
- The Magma Ocean Era: Volatiles, Silicates, and Magma Oceans during the First 100 Ma of an Earth-sized Rocky Planet’s Lifespan (Edwin Kite)
- Sustaining the Connections (Edwin Kite)
- Dynamics of Planetary Systems (Renu Malhotra)
- Bombardment History of the Planets (Renu Malhotra)
Photos
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Week 3 – Planet Habitability
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Current evidence indicates that life initiated on Earth just as soon as the physical conditions permitted. Is there life on other planets, or is life on Earth a unique phenomenon? We now know that Earth-like planets are common in our Milky Way galaxy. Recent research indicates that Mars may once have been habitable, and that oceans of liquid water exist below the icy surfaces of Europa and Enceladus. Are any of these locations suitable habitats for life? What physical conditions does life require to start and to flourish, and where are the settings to find such conditions? Week 3 will focus on these and other questions relevant to Planetary Habitability.
Organizers
Topics and Speakers
Atmospheric conditions needed to sustain liquid water
Speaker: Dr. Ravi Kopparapu, Assistant Research Scientist, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, University of Maryland
Ocean composition, dynamics, and implications for habitability
Speaker: Dr. Steve Vance, Staff Scientist and Group Supervisor for Planetary Chemistry & Astrobiology, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology
Galactic Habitability
Speaker: Dr. Mike Gowanlock, Assistant Professor, Northern Arizona University
Resources and Event Photos
Background Reading
- Astronomy (Andrew Fraknoi, et al.)
- The Habitability of Our Evolving Galaxy (Michael G. Gowanlock and Ian S. Morrison)
Icy Worlds
- Geophysical Investigations of Habitability in Ice-Covered OceanWorlds (Steven D. Vance, et al.)
- Geophysical Controls of Chemical Disequilibria in Europa (Steven D. Vance, et al.)
Habitable Zone Planet Occurrence Rates
- The Exoplanet Population Observation Simulator. I - The Inner Edges of Planetary Systems (Gijs D. Mulders, et al.)
- Exoplanet Classification and Yield Estimates for Direct Imaging Missions (Ravi Kumar Kopparapu, et al.)
- Terrestrial Planet Occurrence Rates for the Kepler GK Dwarf Sample (Christopher J. Burke, et al.)
- The Occurrence of Potentially Habitable Planets Orbiting M Dwarfs Estimated from the Full Kepler Dataset and an Empirical Measurement of the Detection Sensitivity (Courtney D. Dressing and David Charbonneau)
- A Revised Estimate of the Occurrence Rate of Terrestrial Planets in the Habitable Zones around Kepler M-Dwarfs (Ravi Kumar Kopparapu)
- Prevalence of Earth-size Planets Orbiting Sun-like Stars (Erik A. Petigura, et al.)
Habitable Zones
- The Inner Edge of the Habitable Zone for Synchronously Rotating Planets around Low-mass Stars Using General Circulation Models (Ravi Kumar Kopparapu, et al.)
- Strong Dependence of the Inner Edge of the Habitable Zone on Planetary Rotation Rate (Jun Yang, et al.)
- Habitable Zones around Main-sequence Stars: Dependence on Planetary Mass (Ravi Kumar Kopparapu, et al.)
- Habitable Zones around Main-sequence Starts: New Estimates (Ravi Kumar Kopparapu, et al.)
- Habitable Zones around Main Sequence Stars (James F. Kasting, et al.)
Presentation
- Introduction to Our Galaxy: An observational astronomy perspective (Keith Hawkins)
- An Introduction to Icy Ocean Worlds (Krista Soderlund and Natalie Wolfenbarger)
- The Habitability of the Galaxy (Mike Gowanlock)
- The Search for Habitable Worlds in Our Galaxy (Ravi Kumar Kopparapu)
- Europa Ultraviolet Spectrograph (Kurt Retherford)
- M-Dwarf Habitability (Cynthia S. Froning)
- Terrestrial Analogs of Icy Worlds (Cyril Grima)
- The Demographics of Exoplanets (Adam L. Kraus)
- Origin of the Elements in Stars (Harriet Dinerstein)
Photos
Additional Resources
- Nucleosynthesis
- Stellar Evolution – The Life and Death of Stars from Australia Telescope National Facility
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Week 4 – How to Find and Recognize Life
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The theme of Week 4 is “How to Find and Recognize Life”. We will focus on the search for life in our Solar System through robotic space missions searching for life or its building blocksin situ, as well as life beyond our Solar System using telescopes to search for biosignatures on planets around nearby stars and possibly technosignatures from more distant civilizations. We will review the methods proposed to search for life, outline the path forward, and discuss how to avoid pitfalls like false positive detections.
Organizers
Speakers
- Shawn Domagal-Goldman, Research Scientist, Goddard
- Scott Gaudi, Associate Professor, The Ohio State University
- Sarah Johnson, Assistant Professor, Georgetown
- Jill Tarter, EmeritusChair for SETI Research, SETI Institute
Resources and Event Photos
Background Reading
- Exo-Life Finder (ELF): A Hybrid Optical Telescope for Imaging Exo-Earths (Jeff Kuhn, et al.)
- Inadvertently Finding Earth Contamination on Mars Should Not Be a Priority for Anyone (John D. Rummel and Catharine A. Conley)
- Is Searching for Martian Life a Priority for the Mars Community? (Alberto G. Fairén, et al.)
- Three Versions of the Third Law: Technosignatures and Astrobiology (Tarter, Jill, et al.)
- SETI is Part of Astrobiology (Jason T. Wright)
- Rio 2.0 - Revising the Rio Scale for SETI Detections (Duncan Forgan, et al.)
Exoplanet Biosignatures
- Exoplanet Biosignatures: Future Directions (Sara I. Walker, et al.)
- Exoplanet Biosignatures: Observational Prospects (Yuka Fujii, et al.)
- Exoplanet Biosignatures: A Framework for Their Assessment (David C. Catling, et al.)
- Exoplanet Biosignatures: A Review of Remotely Detectable Signs of Life (Edward W. Schwieterman, et al.)
- Exoplanet Biosignatures: Understanding Oxygen as a Biosignature in the Context of Its Environment (Victoria S. Meadows, et al.)
- Exoplanet Biosignatures: At the Dawn of a New Era of Planetary Observations (Nancy Y. Kiang, et al.)
Photos