Studying habitability of the exoplanets Kepler-504 b, Kepler-315 b, and Kepler-315 c

Abstract

Astronomers have always wanted to know whether there are other planets around other stars that support life like our Earth. The search for life elsewhere has led us to new findings of extreme planetary conditions that humans were unaware of. Here we present the habitability index values of three earlier discovered exoplanets: Kepler-504 b (of the star Kepler-504), Kepler-315 b and Kepler-315 c (of the Kepler-315 stellar system). We wanted to know what are the ideal factors that decide the chances of habitability, e.g., the orbital distance from the star, the type of star, or a combination of multiple properties. We hypothesized that there should exist a combination of these properties that will increase the chances that the exoplanet would be similar to Earth. We have adopted the Earth Similarity Index (ESI) for calculating the physical similarity of exoplanets to Earth, and hence the probability of them being habitable. Using available telescope data, we found that Kepler-504 b, with a host M-type star (small red dwarf), and Kepler-315 c, with a host G-type star, had ESI values of 71.23% and 69.44%, respectively, thereby showing high similarity to Earth. Kepler-315 b, with a host G-type star, on the other hand, had an ESI value of only 35.68%, showing poor similarity to Earth. We have also listed previously calculated ESI values of additional exoplanets from the Planet Habitability Laboratory catalog, which supports our hypothesis. Thus, it suggests that a combination of star-type and orbital radius seems to make conditions favorable. Future work can study more exoplanets with such combinations to further validate these findings.