In this activity, students are provided with data about 10 different exoplanets and their host stars to investigate and determine the best candidate for supporting life outside of Earth. BackgroundThe Circumstellar Habitable Zone (CHZ) is the region around a star where water could exist on the surface of an Earth-like planet. Water is understood to be vital in the formation of life due to its many important functions in biochemistry. Although the region is a spherical shell that surrounds a star, it is often shown as a ring in diagrams looking down onto the plane of a star system. Realize that the CHZ is closely related to the inverse-square law – how energy quickly falls off with distance from a star. Thus, the size and location of the CHZ change over time as a star evolves. For our Sun at present, the CHZ ranges from 0.97 AU to 1.37 AU but this range varies from star to star. ToolsThe following tools allow students to make sense of the raw data provided without needed to get to deep into the math of everything. These supports could be removed for more advanced students to provide more calculations.
The List of PossibilitiesStudents receive a curated list of 6 stars that have had exoplanets discovered in their system. Some of these stars have more than one planet so students have 10 exoplanets in total to determine which ones have orbits in the habitable zone and could potentially support life
The Data Star SpectraIn lieu of "raw data", a simulated spectrum for each star has been created in PhET. From this, students can either use PhET to match the spectrum by changing the temperature or calculate the temperature using Wien's Law (peak wavelength = 0.0029/T). This stellar temperature will be needed to determine the habitable zone around the star.
Planet Light CurvesEach time a planet passes between its star and the earth, the star’s brightness drops slightly, this transit data can be used to determine the orbital period and distance of each planet  Kepler-18 b Light Curve  HD-20782 b Light Curve  Trappist-1 b Light Curve Original Images All light curves were created using this desmos tool that I threw together for this activity. You can download the individual graphs below
Data DashboardSince there is a lot to determine about the stars and their exoplanets in order to determine which candidates fall in the habitable zone, it is useful to collect the data in a couple of organized tables. Stars
Planets
AnalysisIn the end, students will find that 3 of the 10 planets have a semi-major axis that falls inside their host star's habitable zone but there is more to the story. The following analysis questions guide students to look at the role that eccentricity has in an exoplanet's habitability.
FilesThis activity was made as a google doc. See below for a pdf and editable google doc version of the student facing materials as well as the solutions with the tables fully completed
NotesThe following are some of the slides that I used throughout the topic to introduce the concepts needed for this exoplanet project
Click for more Astrophysics resources ⬇ 
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