Research

• Estimating the life span of the biosphere and the determination of the habitable zone
• The habitable zone of Earth-like planets around 47 UMa
• The number of habitable planets in the Milky Way over cosmological time scales

This research is part of the PLACES project.

Project head:

Siegfried Franck †

Project scientists:

Werner von Bloh

Christine Bounama

External cooperations:

Manfred Cuntz, University of Texas in Arlington, Arlington, USA

Publications

L. P. Cady, A. Brack, J. E. Bueno Pinto, C. Cockell, G. Horneck, J. F. Kasting, C. H. Lineweaver, F. Raulin, J. W. Schopf, N. Sleep, W. von Bloh, F. Westall, D. Deamer, N. Lehman, and J. Perez-Mercader, 2014. Where Do We Go from Here? Astrobiology Editorial Board Opinions. Astrobiology 14(8), 629-644.

M. Cuntz, W. von Bloh, K.-P. Schröder, C. Bounama, and S. Franck, 2012. Habitability of Super-Earth Planets around Main-Sequence Stars including Red Giant Branch Evolution: Models based on the Integrated System Approach. Int. J. Astrobiology 11(1), 15-23 (arXiv).

W. von Bloh, M. Cuntz, S. Franck, and C. Bounama, 2011. Habitability of the Goldilocks planet Gliese 581g: Results from geodynamic models. Astron. & Astrophys. 528, A133.

W. von Bloh, C. Bounama, S. Franck, 2010. Photosynthesis in the Milky Way. Plant Science 178, 485-490.

W. von Bloh, K. J. Kossacki, S. Franck, and C. Bounama, 2010. Diurnal habitability of frozen worlds. Earth, Moon, and Planets 106(1), 15-26.

W. von Bloh, M. Cuntz, K.-P. Schroeder, C. Bounama, and S. Franck, 2009. Habitability of Super-Earth Planets around Other Suns: Models including Red Giant Branch Evolution. Astrobiology 9, 593-602.

W. von Bloh, C. Bounama, M. Cuntz and S. Franck, 2007. The habitability of super-Earths in Gliese 581. Astron. & Astrophys. 476, 1365-1371.

W. von Bloh, C. Bounama and S. Franck, 2007. Habitable zones in extrasolar planetary systems. In R. Dvorak (ed.), Extrasolar Planets, Wiley-VCH, 257-280.

C. Bounama, W.von Bloh and S. Franck, 2007. How rare is complex life in the Milky Way? Astrobiology 7(5), 745-756.

W. von Bloh, C. Bounama, and S. Franck, 2007. Dynamic habitability for Earth-like planets in 86 extrasolar planetary systems. Plan. Space Sci 55, 651-660.

W. von Bloh, C. Bounama, and S. Franck, 2005. Dynamic habitability of extrasolar planetary systems. Celestial Mechanics & Dynamical Astronomy 92, 287-300.

N. Asghari, C. Broeg, L. Carone, R. Casas-Miranda, J. Palaris, I. Csillik, R. Dvorak, F. Freistetter, G. Hadjivantsides, H. Husemann, A. Khramova, M. Khrisoforova, I. Khromova, I. Kitiashvilli, S. Kozlowski, T. Laskso, T. Laczkowski, D. Lytvinenko, O. Miloni, R. Morishima, A. Moro-Martin, V. Paksyutov, A. Pal, V. Patidar, B. Pecnik, O. Peles, J. Pyo, T. Quinn, A. Rodriguez, C. Romano, E. Sakia, J. Stadel, M. Thiel, N. Todorovic, D. Veras, E. Nieto, J. Vilagi , W. von Bloh, R. Zechner, and E. Zhohkova, 2004. Stability of Terrestrial Planets in the Habitable Zone of Gl 777 A, HD 72659, Gl 614, 47 Uma and HD 4208. Astron. & Astrophys. 426, 353-365.

S. Franck, W. von Bloh, C. Bounama, and H.-J. Schellnhuber, 2004. Extraterrestrial Gaias. In. J. R. Miller, S. H. Schneider, E. Crist, P. J. Boston (eds.), Scientists Debate Gaia: The Next Century, MIT Press, 309-319.

W. von Bloh, M. Cuntz, S. Franck, and C. Bounama, 2003. On the existence of habitability around 55 Cancri. Astrobiology, 3(4), 681-688.

S. Franck, M. Cuntz, W. von Bloh, and C. Bounama, 2003. The Habitable Zone of Earth-Mass Planets Around 47 UMa: Results for Land and Water Worlds. International Journal of Astrobiology, 2, 35-39 (abstract).

M. Cuntz, W. von Bloh, C. Bounama, and S. Franck, 2003. On the Possibility of Earth-Type Habitable Planets around 47 UMa. Icarus 162, 214-221 (abstract).

W. von Bloh, S. Franck, C. Bounama, and H.-J. Schellnhuber, 2003. Maximum number of habitable planets at the time of Earth's origin: new hints for panspermia? Orig. of Life Evol. Biosphere 33(2), 219-231 (abstract).

S. Franck, W. von Bloh, C. Bounama, M. Steffen, D. Schönberner, and H.-J. Schellnhuber, 2001. Habitable zones in extrasolar planetary systems. In: G. Horneck and C. Baumstark-Khan (eds.), astrobiology, the quest for conditions of life, Springer Verlag, Berlin, 47-56.

S. Franck, A. Block, W. von Bloh, C. Bounama, I. Garrido, and H.-J. Schellnhuber, 2001. Planetary habitability: is Earth commonplace in the Milky Way? Naturwiss. 88, 416-426 (abstract).

S. Franck, W. von Bloh, C. Bounama, M. Steffen, D. Schönberner and H.-J. Schellnhuber, 2001. Limits of photosynthesis in extrasolar planetary systems for Earth-like planets. Adv. Space Res. 28/4, 695-700 (abstract, article in PDF format, 180KB).

S. Franck, A. Block, W. von Bloh, C. Bounama., H.-J. Schellnhuber, and Y. M. Svirezhev, 2000. Habitable zone for Earth-like planets in the solar system. Plan. Space Sci. 48, 1099-1105 (abstract, full text as a PDF document).

S. Franck, W. von Bloh, C. Bounama, M. Steffen, D. Schönberner and H.-J. Schellnhuber, 2000. Determination of habitable zones in extrasolar planetary systems: Where are Gaia's sisters? J. Geophys. Res. 105, no. E1, 1651-1658 (abstract, article in PDF format, 380KB).

S. Franck, A. Block, W. von Bloh, C. Bounama., H.-J. Schellnhuber, and Y. M. Svirezhev, 2000. Reduction of life span as a consequence of geodynamics. Tellus 52B, 94-107 (abstract, full text as a HTML-document).

External links

• Research institutes
  • NASA Astrobiology Institute
  • Astrobiology Society of Britain
  • Centro de Astrobiologia Institute in Spain associated to the NASA Astrobiology Institute
  • AIP - Astrophysikalisches Institut Potsdam
  • MPIA - Max-Planck-Institut für Astronomie
  • TLS - Thüringer Landessternwarte Tautenburg
  • AIU Jena - Astrophysical Institute & University Observatory Jena
• Space and research projects
  • Microlensing Planet Search Project - Planet detection via gravitational microlensing, see also the homepage of Joachim Wambsganss at AIP
  • University of California Planet Search Project
  • The Planet and Star Formation Group at the Max-Planck-Institut für Astronomie Heidelberg
  • TEP Transits of extrasolar planets
  • TPF - Terrestrial planet finder project of the NASA
  • Darwin - Darwin project site of the ESA (space interferometry project)
• Collection of websites and encyclopaedia
  • The Extrasolar Planets Encyclopaedia - site maintained by Jean Schneider from the CNRS-Paris Observatory
  • The Astrobiology Web - Collection of web sites
  • Astrobiology Central + Spaceflight Central - A collection of resources maintained by David J. Darling
  • Homepage of John Chambers including the downloadable code for the Mercury symplectic solver.
• Journals
  • Astrobiology
  • Astronomy & Astrophysics
  • Celestial Mechanics and Dynamical Astronomy
  • Icarus
  • International Journal of Astrobiology
  • Origins of Life and Evolution of Biospheres
  • Planetary and Space Science