Class Announcements:

2025-11-24: Thousands of images of Mars acquired with the HiRISE camera aboard NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) can be found here. An animation that demonstrates atmospheric loss processes on Mars using data from the MAVEN mission is available here. I also suggest reading the following paper regarding MAVEN results: "Loss of the Martian atmosphere to space: Present-day loss rates determined from MAVEN observations and integrated loss through time".

2025-11-20: I encourage reading the following review paper: "The Habitability of Our Earth and Other Earths: Astrophysical, Geochemical, Geophysical, and Biological Limits on Planet Habitability". Also, I recommend the following papers regarding the Moon formation, and references therein: "Origin of the Moon in a giant impact near the end of the Earth's formation", "Emergence of a Habitable Planet", and "Brief follow-up on recent studies of Theia's accretion". I recommend this biosignatures review paper: "Exoplanet Biosignatures: A Review of Remotely Detectable Signs of Life". Regarding the Faint Young Sun Paradox, I suggest reading this paper: "Is the Faint Young Sun Problem for Earth Solved?". Finally, here is Pam's paper that discusses the radiative forcing aspects of Milankovitch cycles: "System Architecture and Planetary Obliquity: Implications for Long-term Habitability".

2025-11-18: Several additional papers discussed in today's class are "Habitable Zone Dependence on Stellar Parameter Uncertainties", "Habitable Planets Eclipsing Brown Dwarfs: Strategies for Detection and Characterization", "A Catalog of Kepler Habitable Zone Exoplanet Candidates", and "A Catalog of Habitable Zone Exoplanets".

2025-11-13: A useful resource for telluric line lists can be found in the HITRAN Database.

2025-10-28: The full derivation of obliquity and eccentrcity driven flux variations can be found in "Obliquity and Eccentricity Constraints for Terrestrial Exoplanets". A contrary opinion regarding the benefit of magnetic fields can be found here: "Why an intrinsic magnetic field does not protect a planet against atmospheric escape".

2025-10-27: I highly recommend taking a look at this tutorial on "How to Characterize the Atmosphere of a Transiting Exoplanet". Also, for the coming classes, check out these two relevant papers regarding Habitable Zones.

2025-10-23: There are useful resources regarding planetary interior models at Li Zeng's web site. Also the ExoPlex code by Cayman Unterborn is extremely useful.

Mantle convection simulations by Walter Kiefer and Louise Kellogg can be found here.

Here are some of the mass-radius relationship papers discussed in class:
"The Mass-Radius Relation for 65 Exoplanets Smaller than 4 Earth Radii".
"Probabilistic Forecasting of the Masses and Radii of Other Worlds".

2025-10-21: Paper demonstrating the inversion layer in solar system planets: "Common 0.1bar tropopause in thick atmospheres set by pressure-dependent infrared transparency".

2025-09-30: Interesting review paper on "The Inner Solar System's Habitability Through Time".

2025-09-19: Class announcements will appear here periodically.

Contact details:

• Instructor: Stephen Kane
• Office: Pierce Hall 2360
• Office hours: Wednesdays, 1:00pm-3:00pm
• Phone: 951-827-6593
• Email: skane@ucr.edu

Download the class syllabus here.

Class times:

• Tuesday, 10:00am-11:20am Geology 1444
• Thursday, 10:00am-11:20am Geology 1444

Text:

• "Planetary Habitability" by Stephen Kane.
• "Planetary Sciences, Updated Second Edition" by Imke de Pater & Jack Lissauer.
• I also recommend "Principles of Planetary Climate" by Raymond Pierrehumbert and "Atmospheric Evolution on Inhabited and Lifeless Worlds" by David Catling & James Kasting.

Useful Links:

• The NASA Astrophysics Data System
• astro-ph preprint server
• The Habitable Zone Gallery
• The NASA Exoplanet Archive
• The Exoplanet Data Explorer
• The Exoplanet Characterization Toolkit
• The Systemic Console
• Planetary Spectrum Generator
• LAPS: Online 1-D climate model
• REBOUND: N-body integrator

Lectures:

• Lecture 1 - Introduction
• Lecture 2 - Habitability Factors
• BONUS Lecture - Keplerian Orbits
• Lecture 3 - Stars
• Lecture 4 - Planetary Atmospheres
• BONUS Lecture - Dead planets!
• Lecture 5 - Planetary Interiors
• Lecture 6 - Planetary Energy Balance
• Lecture 7 - Habitable Zone I
• Lecture 8 - Habitable Zone II
• Lecture 9 - Earth as a Living Planet
• Lecture 10 - Mars
• Lecture 11 - Icy Moons
• Lecture 12 - Venus
• Lecture 13 - Mercury & the Moon
• Lecture 14 - The Role of Giant Planets
• Lecture 15 - Stellar Influences
• Lecture 16 - Magnetic Fields
• Lecture 17 - Milankovitch Cycles
• Lecture 18 - Geological Cycles
• Lecture 19 - The Next Steps
• Lecture 20 - Summary/Discussion

Assessment:

• Homework (30%): There will be three homeworks during the quarter. Most problems will require analytic solutions, however there will usually be one problem per assignment that will involve graphing and numerical solution with computer software such as Mathematica, MATLAB, or any programming language.
• Paper Discussion (30%): Students will choose a refereed paper to discuss in front of the class, answering questions as they arise. The paper may be from planetary science, exoplanets, biology, geophysics, etc, but must discuss planetary habitability. I recommend using NASA ADS to search for refereed papers with "habitability" in the title.
• System Project (40%): Students will be required to complete a project in which they provide a detailed study of a planetary system of their choosing in which at least one planet lies within the Habitable Zone. Exoplanet data are available from the NASA Exoplanet Archive, the Exoplanet Data Explorer, and the Habitable Zone Gallery. Characterization tools are available from the Exoplanet Characterization Toolkit, the Systemic Console, and the Planetary Spectrum Generator. The written report may be up to 6 pages long (including plots). Guidelines on writing lab reports may be found here.

Final Grades:

• A = 90% to 100%
• B = 77% to 89%
• C = 65% to 76%
• D = 50% to 64%
• F = below 50%