Astrobiological Interesting Stars within 20 Parsecs of the Sun

This project aims to identify and characterize a complete sample of stars with astrobiological interest within 20 parsecs of the Sun, using data from the Hipparcos and Gaia catalogs and creating a composition and intersection between these two catalogs, while also analyzing the completeness issues of both. The main goal is to characterize optimized targets for future interferometric orbital probes that will attempt to detect biosignatures on exoplanets in the habitable zones of these stars through the infrared spectroscopic signatures of ozone, water, and methane. The selection criteria depend on multiple factors, with the main ones being the star’s mass, age, and chemical composition, which determine the rate of evolution of its luminosity and, consequently, the duration of its planets’ presence within the habitable zone. Data from the literature on the effective temperatures and metallicities of the stars will be gathered, and based on evolutionary tracks, their masses and luminosities will be estimated. Ages will be obtained through isochronal, chromospheric, and kinematic methods, and each star will have its age characterized individually in terms of the lifetime of its habitable zone. A model will also be explored to estimate the minimum mass a K-type star must have so that a planet in its habitable zone does not have its habitability compromised by tidal locking. The result will be a comprehensive catalog of F, G, and K-type stars with astrobiological interest located within 20 parsecs, which exhibit lifetimes compatible with the emergence of photosynthetic biosignatures on possible planets situated in their habitable zones.