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Manfred Cuntz (born 1958 in Landau in der Pfalz) is a German astrophysicist. He is a Professor of Physics at the University of Texas at Arlington (UTA). His research interests include stellar astrophysics, astrobiology, and extrasolar planets, including terrestrial planets where life may be possible.

Life
Manfred Cuntz comes from an agricultural and winemaking business and spent the first part of his life in the Palatinate. He attended the Eduard-Spranger-Gymnasium in Landau, from which he graduated with the Abitur.

After studying physics and astronomy at the University of Heidelberg, Germany, which he completed in 1988 with a dissertation on stellar atmospheric heating and stellar winds, Cuntz continued his scientific work in the USA. He initially did research at the Joint Institute for Laboratory Astrophysics (JILA), University of Colorado, Boulder (UCB) and at the High Altitude Observatory (HAO), National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR). His main area of work during these years was the study of stellar atmospheres and outflows based on theoretical modeling and observational data; particularly, results obtained with the International Ultraviolet Explorer and the Hubble Space Telescope.

At that time, he was also a visiting scientist at the University of Utrecht, Netherlands. Furthermore, he pursued his habilitation (including the venia legendi) in astronomy at the University of Heidelberg. Thereafter, he worked at the University of Alabama in Huntsville, where he pursued, among other topics, studies of solar physics and planet-star interactions partially in collaboration with members of the NASA Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC).

An important contribution to the field of planet-star interactions was that Cuntz, as lead author, predicted that Jupiter-type planets in extreme proximity to their host stars would be able to increase stellar activity. This phenomenon was later observed by E. Shkolnik (University of British Columbia, Canada) and co-authors as well as by other research groups. The said effect allows to detect and quantify magnetic fields in selected exoplanets.

In 2000, Cuntz went to the University of Texas at Arlington as a visiting professor. In 2006, he was appointed as Associate Professor (with tenure) and in 2012 as Professor. In 2020, Cuntz also earned the title of Distinguished Teaching Professor.

In the two decades after 2000, he increasingly focused on the study of extrasolar planets. He also dealt with questions about the probability and possible distribution of extraterrestrial life forms. This work also included studies of stellar habitable zones and binary star systems. A striking example are studies on Kepler-16. There are also papers about Nu Octantis, a system in which a planet appears to be in a retrograde orbit.

Furthermore, as a member of the research group of D. H. Hathaway (NASA MSFC), Cuntz participated - together with his then-doctoral student P. E. Williams - in studies on the dynamics of the solar surface, especially supergranulation, with further work (without participation of Cuntz) indicating the existence of convective giant cells, i.e., giant cellular flows, a distinct, though elusive component of the Sun's photosphere.

He is also particularly interested in stars that are cooler than the sun, but have a significantly longer lifespan (also known as orange dwarfs), a type of star that allows for the enhanced possibility of habitable planets, sometimes also referred to as superhabitability. This view is now supported by various other studies. Cuntz's main collaborator is Edward F. Guinan, Villanova University.

Moreover, Cuntz also deals with extrasolar comets, moons, and submoons (i.e., moons which in turn orbit moons),  as well as with planets hosted by multiple stellar systems. For triple star systems, he is the lead author of a first version star-planet catalog.

Involvements
Cuntz is a member of scientific associations such as the American Astronomical Society, the New York Academy of Sciences, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the German Astronomical Society, and the German Physical Society.

Another focus of Cuntz includes education and public outreach (EPO), in part in conjunction with UTA's Planetarium and the Grapevine Colleyville Independent School District (GCISD). For example, involvements include activities in conjunction with the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing. Additionally, he has been the Principal Investigator for the development of several planetarium shows produced at UTA. Two of these shows deal with the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA); its construction was based on a partnership between NASA and the German Aerospace Center. Cuntz was also a participant in the SOFIA Airborne Astronomy Ambassador Program (Flight 2017-09-26 UT).

Another area pursued by Cuntz includes the examination of fake news in science (e.g., articles in the journal Skeptical Inquirer). This also includes articles about misguided criticism of the work of Albert Einstein and regarding the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST).

Furthermore, he is a member of the editorial board of the journal Astronomische Nachrichten (Astronomical Notes).

Miscellaneous
A publication by Cuntz on possible Earth-like planets in the star system 55 Cancri served as inspiration for Kenneth E. Ingle's science fiction novel First Contact: Escape to 55 Cancri.

Moreover, Cuntz also chose to explore urban legends. Contributions by Cuntz have been adequately considered by Rolf Wilhelm Brednich, at that time Professor of Folklore / European Ethnology at the University of Göttingen, Germany.

Awards and honors

 * 2020: Elected Member – UTA's Academy of Distinguished Teachers

Selected Articles

 * X-ray Activity Variations and Coronal Abundances of the Star-Planet Interaction Candidate HD 179949 (2023) (incl. A. Acharya, V. L. Kashyap, S. H. Saar, K. P. Singh).
 * An Early Catalog of Planet-Hosting Multiple-Star Systems of Order Three and Higher (2022) (incl. G. E. Luke, M. J. Millard, L. Boyle, S. D. Patel).
 * Updated Studies on Exomoons in the HD 23079 System (2021) (incl. O. Jagtap, B. Quarles).
 * Orbital Stability of Exomoons and Submoons with Applications to Kepler 1625b-I (2020)  (incl. M. Rosario-Franco, B. Quarles, Z. E. Musielak).
 * Can Planets Exist in the Habitable Zone of 55 Cancri? (2019)  (incl. S. Satyal).
 * Exocomets in the 47 UMa System: Theoretical Simulations Including Water Transport (2018)  (incl. B. Loibnegger, R. Dvorak).
 * Case Studies of Exocomets in the System of HD 10180 (2017)  (incl. B. Loibnegger, R. Dvorak).
 * About Exobiology: The Case for Dwarf K Stars (2016)  (incl. E. F. Guinan).
 * Fractal and Multifractal Analysis of the Rise of Oxygen in Earth's Early Atmosphere (2015)  (incl. S. Kumar, Z. E. Musielak).
 * Habitability of Earth-mass Planets and Moons in the Kepler-16 System (2012)  (incl. B. Quarles, Z. E. Musielak).
 * The Advection of Supergranules by the Sun's Axisymmetric Flows (2010)  (incl. D. H. Hathaway, P. E. Williams, K. Dela Rosa).
 * On the Reality of the Suggested Planet in the Nu Octantis System (2010) (incl. J. Eberle).
 * The Great Oxidation of Earth's Atmosphere: Contesting the Yoyo Model via Transition Stability Analysis (2009)  (incl. D. Roy, Z. E. Musielak).
 * A Method for the Treatment of Supergranulation Advection by Giant Cells (2009)  (incl. P. E. Williams).
 * Acoustic Heating of the Solar Chromosphere: Present Indeed and Locally Dominant (2007)  (incl. W. Rammacher, Z. E. Musielak).
 * A New Version of Reimers' Law of Mass Loss Based on a Physical Approach (2005)  (incl. K.-P. Schröder).
 * On the Possibility of Earth-type Habitable Planets in the 55 Cancri System (2003)  (incl. W. von Bloh, C. Bounama, S. Franck).
 *  Orbital Stability of Terrestrial Planets inside the Habitable Zones of Extrasolar Planetary Systems (2002)  (incl. M. Noble, Z. E. Musielak).
 * On Stellar Activity Enhancement Due to Interactions with Extrasolar Giant Planets (2000)  (incl. S. H. Saar, Z. E. Musielak).
 * A Generalized Version of the Rankine-Hugoniot Relations Including Ionization, Dissociation and Related Phenomena (1993)  (incl. H. Nieuwenhuijzen, C. de Jager, A. Lobel, L. Achmad).