Abstract
The recent announcement of a Neptune-sized exomoon candidate orbiting the Jupiter-sized object Kepler-1625b has forced us to rethink our assumptions regarding both exomoons and their host exoplanets. In this paper, I describe calculations of the habitable zone for Earth-like exomoons in the orbit of Kepler-1625b under a variety of assumptions. I find that the candidate exomoon, Kepler-1625b-i, does not currently reside within the exomoon habitable zone, but may have done so when Kepler-1625 occupied the main sequence. If it were to possess its own moon (a 'moon-moon') that was Earth-like, this could potentially have been a habitable world. If other exomoons orbit Kepler-1625b, then there are a range of possible semi-major axes/eccentricities that would permit a habitable surface during the main sequence phase, while remaining dynamically stable under the perturbations of Kepler-1625b-i. This is however contingent on effective atmospheric CO2 regulation.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Number of pages | 8 |
| Journal | International Journal of Astrobiology |
| Volume | First View |
| Early online date | 11 Feb 2019 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | E-pub ahead of print - 11 Feb 2019 |
Keywords
- Exomoon
- Habitable zone
- Kepler-1625b
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