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Habitable zone
The orbital band where a planet could hold liquid water — no more than that.
The habitable zone is the range of distances from a star where the temperature would allow liquid water on a planet's surface, given an atmosphere something like Earth's. It is a crude first filter and it is routinely oversold. It says nothing about whether the planet has water, an atmosphere, a magnetic field, or a surface at all — Venus sits at the inner edge of the Sun's and is 460°C. It also moves: stars brighten as they age, so the zone migrates outward over billions of years. Useful for deciding which planets are worth a closer look, useless as a synonym for habitable.
Where it has come up lately
Universe Today
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Universe Today
AAS Nova
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Related terms
Transit method
Finding planets by watching a star dim slightly as one passes in front.
Radial velocity
Finding planets by the wobble they induce in their star's motion.
Sub-Neptune
The most common kind of planet in the galaxy, and there is not one in our solar system.
Hot Jupiter
A gas giant orbiting closer to its star than Mercury does to the Sun.
Questions
What is Habitable zone?
The orbital band where a planet could hold liquid water — no more than that.
Why does it matter?
It also moves: stars brighten as they age, so the zone migrates outward over billions of years. Useful for deciding which planets are worth a closer look, useless as a synonym for habitable.