From the Heliosphere to Astrospheres - Lessons for Exoplanets and their Habitability

779. WE-Heraeus-Seminar

16 Jan - 20 Jan 2023

Where:

Physikzentrum Bad Honnef

Scientific organizers:

Priv.-Doz. Dr. Konstantin Herbst, Christian-Albrechts-Universit¨at zu Kiel • Dr. Frederic Effenberger, Dr. Klaus Scherer, Ruhr-Universit¨at Bochum

Whether or not we are alone in the universe has fascinated humanity for many centuries. New missions like the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) and upcoming ones like the Atmospheric Remote-sensing Infrared Exoplanet Large-survey (ARIEL) will deliver data addressing this crucial question within the next few decades. Of particular interest are exoplanets orbiting cool stars (in particular K- and M-stars) due to, e.g., favorable (planet/star) flux ratios. However, recent estimations showed that the exoplanetary radiation environment around such stars might be much harsher than what we know from the Sun. Thus, exoplanets could be exposed to an enhanced stellar radiation environment, which – in turn – could affect its habitability, e.g., due to a hazardous flux of energetic particles influencing atmospheric evolution, climate, photochemistry, and the atmospheric radiation dose.

This interdisciplinary seminar aims to bring together experts from astrophysics, particle physics, solar/stellar physics, planetary physics, and atmospheric chemistry/climate physics to understand the impacts of astrospheres, stellar winds, stellar radiation, and stellar space weather on the habitability of exoplanets/moons.


The conference language will be English. The Wilhelm and Else Heraeus-Foundation bears the cost of full-board accommodation for all participants.