Labs / Astronomy
The Habitable Zone
The green ring is where a planet could hold liquid water — not so close it boils, not so far it freezes. Drag the planet across its orbit, then brighten or dim the star and see the whole zone slide inward or outward.
Flux 1.00 S⊕T ≈ 255 KHabitable
What to try
- Park a planet at 1 AU, then crank up the star's luminosity. Why does a once-temperate world suddenly boil?
- Switch to a dim M dwarf. How close does a planet have to huddle to stay in the green — and what might that closeness do to it?
- Can two very different stars both have a habitable zone at the same distance? What would you have to match?
- Does changing only the star's temperature move the zone edges? Why might luminosity matter more than colour here?
- Find the exact orbit where the surface temperature reads 273 K. Is that the inner or the outer edge of liquid water?