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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 10 November 2011
Spurred by the recent large number of radial velocity detections and the discovery of several transiting system and among those two planets, that are consistent with rocky composition, the study of planets orbiting nearby stars has now entered an era of characterizing massive terrestrial planets (aka super-Earths). One prominent question is, if such planets could be habitats. Here we focuss on one particular planet Gl581d. For Earth-like assumptions, we investigate the minimal atmospheric conditions for Gl581d to be potentially habitable at its current position, and if habitability could be remotely detected in its spectra. The model we present here only represents one possible nature an Earth-like composition - of a planet like Gl581d in a wide parameter space. Future observations of atmospheric features of such super-Earths can be used to examine if our concept of habitability and its dependence on the carbonate-silicate cycle is correct, and also assess whether Gl581d is indeed the first detected habitable super-Earth. We will need spectroscopic measurements to probe the atmosphere of such planets to break the degeneracy of mass and radius measurements and characterize a planetary environment.
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