Astronomy 2021A/B Study Guide - Final Guide: Exoplanet, Runaway Greenhouse Effect, Galactic Habitable Zone

• School: Western University
• Department: Astronomy
• Course: Astronomy 2021A/B
• Professor: Chris Racknor

Document Summary

A zone in which the surface temp of a planet could allow it to have abundant liquid water on the surface. Moon is in the hz, but does not have surface water. Titan but would be very dif cult to detect outside the solar system. Earth"s temp remained cool enough for liquids oceans to form. Oceans dissolve atmospheric co2, enabling carbon to be trapped in rocks: co2 content of oceans = 60 atmospheres, co2 content of rocks = 170,000 atmospheres. Surface can not be seen from the earth. W/o the atmospheric greenhouse effect, surface temp would be ~35 . Thick atmosphere: 90 earth-atmospheric pressures at surface, contains 96% co2, runaway greenhouse effect. However: earth and venus contain similar total amounts of co2. But on earth it is dissolved mostly in the rocks, and some in the oceans, much hotter temp on venus has released all of it in the atmosphere.