The habitable zone around some stars with planets

A team of astronomers has shown that the newly discovered exoplanet HD 85512 b lies at the edge of the habitable zone of its star, where liquid water oceans could potentially exist if the atmosphere of the planet has sufficient cloud cover. This diagram shows the distances of the planets in the Solar System (upper row) in the new HD 85512 system (middle) and in the Gliese 581 system (lower row), from their respective stars (left). The habitable zone is indicated as the blue area.

Note that some early versions of this diagram were in error - please use the most recent.

Based on an original diagram by Franck Selsis, Univ. of Bordeaux.

Credit:

ESO

About the Image

Id:eso1134f
Type:Chart
Release date:12 September 2011, 18:00
Related releases:eso1134
Size:3000 x 2250 px

About the Object

Name:Gliese 581, HD 85512 b
Type:Solar System : Star : Evolutionary Stage : Main Sequence
Milky Way : Star : Evolutionary Stage : Main Sequence
Unspecified : Star
Category:Illustrations

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