TRANSIT SURVEYS FOR EARTHS IN THE HABITABLE ZONES OF WHITE DWARFS
@article{Agol2011TRANSITSF, title={TRANSIT SURVEYS FOR EARTHS IN THE HABITABLE ZONES OF WHITE DWARFS}, author={Eric Agol}, journal={The Astrophysical Journal Letters}, year={2011}, volume={731} }
To date the search for habitable Earth-like planets has primarily focused on nuclear burning stars. I propose that this search should be expanded to cool white dwarf stars that have expended their nuclear fuel. I define the continuously habitable zone of white dwarfs and show that it extends from ≈0.005 to 0.02 AU for white dwarfs with masses from 0.4 to 0.9 M☉, temperatures less than ≈104 K, and habitable durations of at least 3 Gyr. As they are similar in size to Earth, white dwarfs may be…
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