Research
Searching for life
The so-called exoplanets (or extrasolar planets), which are orbiting around another stars than our Sun, are more and more popular between researches and the media. The reason of this popularity is connected to the search of extraterrestrial life. About 2000 exoplanets are known and the number of planet candidates is more than 4000. These numbers significantly grow year by year thank to the developing technology and the more and more sophisticated methods. For this reason a systematization is needed that can help in choosing exoplanets for further investigations. An important tool in selecting can be the so-called habitable zone, which is the region around a star where an Earth-like planet could sustain water on its surface in liquid phase state.
Although a large number of exoplanets are known, there is no confirmed discovery of exomoons so far. (Exomoons are the satellites of extrasolar planets.) These moons can potentially bear life as well in case of suitable orbital and physical properties of the body. A few of the Solar System moons, such as Europa, Enceladus or Titan are also considered as possible places where life could emerge.
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