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Planetary habitability in the Solar System is the study that searches the possible existence of past or present extraterrestrial life in those celestial bodies. As exoplanets are too far away and can only be studied by indirect means, the celestial bodies in the Solar System allow for a much more detailed study: direct telescope observation, space probes, rovers and even human spaceflight.
The following list includes some of the potentially habitable exoplanets discovered so far. It is mostly based on estimates of habitability by the Habitable Worlds Catalog (HWC), and data from the NASA Exoplanet Archive.
The discovery of exoplanets, beginning in the early 1990s [8] [9] and accelerating thereafter, has provided further information for the study of possible extraterrestrial life. These findings confirm that the Sun is not unique among stars in hosting planets and expands the habitability research horizon beyond the Solar System.
Liquid water is thought by most astrobiologists to be an essential prerequisite for extraterrestrial life. There is growing evidence of subsurface liquid water on several moons in the Solar System orbiting the gas giants Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. However, none of these subsurface bodies of water has been confirmed to date.
Based on the serious problems for planetary habitability presented by red dwarf systems and stellar bodies of type F or higher, the only stars that might offer a bearable scenario for life would be those of type K and G. [1] Solar analogs used to be considered as the most likely candidates to host a solar-like planetary system, and as the best ...
Four years ago, astronomers noticed the abundant clouds on Neptune had largely disappeared. Telescope data may have helped researchers figure out why. Neptune’s clouds have disappeared, and ...
The ice giant planets Uranus and Neptune are thought to have a supercritical water ocean beneath their clouds, which accounts for about two-thirds of their total mass, [30] [31] most likely surrounding small rocky cores, although a 2006 study by Wiktorowicz and Ingersall ruled out the possibility of such a water "ocean" existing on Neptune. [32]
Life in the atmosphere brown dwarfs was also discussed by Yates et al. in 2017, and in 2019 Manasvi Lingam and Abraham Loeb extended the discussion of Yates et al.. Both articles extend the viability of Earth-like biological life beyond planets. [8] [9] Their ideas were criticized by experts in brown dwarfs. [10]