Abstract
Recent models indicate that relatively moderate climates could exist on Earth-sized planets in synchronous rotation around red dwarf stars. Investigation of the global water cycle, availability of photosynthetically active radiation in red dwarf sunlight, and the biological implications of stellar flares, which can be frequent for red dwarfs, suggests that higher plant habitability of red dwarf planets may be possible.
Article PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Allard, F. and Hauschildt, P. H.: 1995, App. J. 445, 433.
Allen, C. W.: 1973, Astrophysical Quantities, 3rd ed., London, The Athlone Press.
Anderson, R.T., Chapelle, F. H. and Lovley, D. R.: 1998, Science 281, 976.
Bada, J. L., Bigham, C. and Miller, S. L.: 1994, ‘Impact Melting of Frozen Oceans on the Early Earth: Implications for the Origin of Life’, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. 91, 1248–1250.
Becker, W.: 1972, Physiologische Untersuchungen zur Photosynthese von Algen unter extremen Temperaturbedingungen, Dissertation, TÚbigen.
Bessell, M. S. and Stringfellow, G. S.: 1993, Annu. Rev. Astron. Astrophys. 31, 433.
Black, C. C.: 1973, Ann. Rev. Plant Physiol. 24, 253.
Bothwell, M. L., Sherbot, D. M. J. and Pollack, C. M.: 1994, Science 265, 97.
Brock, T. D.: 1967, Science 158, 1012.
Caldwell, M. M.: 1998, ‘Ultraviolet Radiation and Plants’, in F. B. Salisbury and C. W. Ross (eds.), Plant Physiology, Belmont, california, Wadsworth Publishing Company.
Caldwell, M. M.: 1981, ‘Plant Response to Solar Ultraviolet Radiation’, Encyclopaedia of Plant Physiology, Springer Verlag, Berlin.
Calkins, J. and Hordadottir, T.: 1980, Nature 283, 563.
De Marais, D. J., Strauss, H., Summons, R. E. and Hayes, J. M.: 1992, Nature 359, 605.
Del Moral, R.: 1972, Oecologia 9, 289.
Demarque, P., Guenther, D. B. and Van Altena, W. F.: 1986, Ap. J. 300, 773.
Dole, S. H.: 1964, Habitable Planets for Man, London, Blaisdell Publishing Company.
Emerson, R., Chalmers, R. and Cederstrand, C.: 1957, ‘Some Factors Influecing the Long-Wave Limit of Photosynthesis’, Proc. Natn. Acad. Sci. 43, 133.
Flenley, J. R.: 1992, ‘Ultraviolet-B Insolation and the Altitudinal Forest Limit’, in P. A. Furley, J. Proctor and J. A. Ratter (eds), Nature and Dynamics of Forest-Savanna Boundaries, London, Chapman & Hall.
Fredrickson, J. K. and Onstott, T. C.: 1996, Sci. Am. 27, (4) 42.
Gates, D.: 1968, Biometeorology, Oregon, Oregon State University Press.
Gregory, R. P. F.: 1976, Biochemistry of Photosynthesis, London, John Wiley & Sons.
Giampapa, M. S. and Liebert, J.: 1986, Ap. J. 305, 784.
Gray, D. F.: 1992, The Observation and Analysis of Stellar Photospheres, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
Haberle, R., McKay, C. P., Tyler, D and Reynolds, R.: ‘Can Synchronously Rotating Planets Support an Atmosphere?’, in L. R. Doyle (ed.), Circumstellar Habitable Zones: Proceedings of the First International Conference, Travis House Publications, Menlo Park, CA.
Hawley, S. L. and Pettersen, B. R.: 1991, Astrophys. J. 378, 725.
Heath, M. J.: 1996, ‘The Forest-Habitability of Earth-Like Planets’, in L. R. Doyle (ed.), Circumstellar Habitable Zones: Proceedings of the First International Conference, Travis House Publications, Menlo Park, CA.
Heath, M. J.: 1997, The Water Cycle on Synchronously Rotating Planets, Presentation at Greenwich Community College.
Heath, M. J. and Doyle L. R.: 1996, Terra Nova 8(3), 301.
Huang, S.-S.: 1960, Sci. Am. 202, (4) 55.
Iqbal, M.: 1983, An Introduction to Solar Radiation, London, Academic Press.
Joshi, M. M. and Haberle, R.M.: 1996, ‘On the Ability of Synchronously Rotating Planets to Support Atmospheres’, submitted to Astronomical and Biochemical Origins and the Search for Life in the Universe, Proceedings of the 5th International Conference on Bioastronomy (in press).
Karttunen, H., Kröger, P., Oja, H., Poutanen, M. and Donner, K. J. (eds.): 1994, Fundamental Astronomy, 2nd. ed., Berlin, Springer-Verlag.
Kasting, J. F., Whithmire, D. P. and Reynolds, R. T.: 1993, Icarus 101, 108.
Koller, L. R.: 1965, Ultraviolet Radiation, London, John Wiley & Sons.
Kozlowski, T. T., Kramer, P. J. and Pallardy, S. G.: 1991, The Physiological Ecology ofWoody Plants, London, Academic Press.
Krumholz, L. R., McKinely, J. P., Ulrich, G. A. and Suflita, J. M.: 1997, Nature 386, 64.
Kunkel, W. E.: 1969, Nature 222, 1, 129.
Lacy, C. H., Moffett, T. J. and Evans, D. S.: 1976, Ap. J. Suppl. 30, 85.
Lang, K. R.: 1991, Astrophysical Data: Planets and Stars, Springer-Verlag, New York.
Larcher, W.: 1995, ‘Photosynthesis as a Tool for Indicating Temperature Stress Events’, in E.-D. Schulze and M. M. Caldwell (eds.), Ecophysiology of Photosynthesis, Springer-Verlag, Berlin.
Laughlin, G., Bodenheimer, P. and Adams, F. C.: 1997, ‘The End of the Main Sequence’, Ap. J. 482, 420–432. Detection (Cambridge England: Cambridge University Press).
Leggett, S. K., Allard, F., Berriman, G., Dahn, C. C. and Hauschildt, P. H.: 1996, Ap. J. 104, 117.
Mochanacki, S.W. and Zirin, H.: 1980, Ap. J. 239, L27.
Mulray, T. W.: 1979, Oecologia 29, 301.
Nobel, P. S.: 1974, Introduction to Biophysical Plant Physiology, San Francisco, W. H. Freeman and Company.
Olson, J. M. and Stanton, E. K.: 1966, in L. P. Vernon and G. R. Seely (eds.), The Chlorophylls, New York, Academic Press.
Open University Course Team: 1989, Seawater: Its Composition, Properties and Behaviour, Oxford, Pergamon Press.
Petterson, B. R. and Coleman, L. A.: 1981, Astrophys. J. 251, 571.
Pollard, W. G.: 1979, American Scientist 67, 653.
Priscu, J. C., Fritsem, C. H., Adams, E. E., Giovanni, S. J., Paerl, H. W., McKay, C. P., Doran, P. T., Gordon, D. A., Lanoil, B. D. and Pinckney, J. L.: 1998, Science 280, 2095.
Rabinowitch, E. and Govindjee: 1969, Photosynthesis, London, John Wiley & Sons.
Rambler, M. B. and Margulis, L.: 1980, Science 210, 638.
Rodono, M.: 1996, ‘The Atmospheres of M Dwarfs: Observations’, in H. R. Johnson and F. R. Querci (eds.), The M-Type Stars, NASA SP-492, pp. 409–453.
Salisbury, F. B. and Ross, C. W.: 1978, Plant Physiology, California, Wadsworth Belmont.
Sass, J. H.: 1972, ‘The Earth's Heat and Internal Temperartures’, in I. G. Gass and R. C. L. Wilson (eds.), Understanding the Earth, Open University Press, Sussex, 2nd ed., pp. 81–87.
Stauffer, J. R. and Hartmann, L. W.: 1986, Ap. J. 61, 531.
Stevens, T. O. and McKinley, J. P.: 1995, Science 270, 450.
Vasko, A.: 1968, Infra-red Radiation, London, English Translation by P. S. Allen, Illife Books.
Villareal, T. A., Altabet, M. A. and Culver-Rymsza, K.: 1993, Nature 363, 709.
Walker, J. C. G., Hays, P. B., and Kasting, J. F.: 1981, J. Geophys. Res. 86, 9776.
Wetherill, G. W.: 1996, Icarus 119, 219.
Worden, S. P., Schneeberger, T. J., Giampapa, M. S., DeLuca, D. E. and Cram, L. E.: 1984, Ap. J. 276, 270.
Zahn, J.-P.: 1994, Astron. & Ap. 288, 829.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Heath, M.J., Doyle, L.R., Joshi, M.M. et al. Habitability of Planets Around Red Dwarf Stars. Orig Life Evol Biosph 29, 405–424 (1999). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1006596718708
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1006596718708