Atmospheric composition of exoplanets based on the thermal escape of gases and implications for habitability.

ABSTRACT: The detection of habitable exoplanets is an exciting scientific and technical challenge. Owing to the current and most likely long-lasting impossibility of performing in situ exploration of exoplanets, their study and hypotheses regarding their capability to host life will be based on the restricted low-resolution spatial and spectral information of their atmospheres. On the other hand, with the advent of the upcoming exoplanet survey missions and technological improvements, there is a need for preliminary discrimination that can prioritize potential candidates within the fast-growing list of exoplanets. Here we estimate, for the first time and using the kinetic theory of gases, a list of the possible atmospheric species that can be retained in the atmospheres of the known exoplanet

SUBMITTER: Konatham S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7544335 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature