Life on the red dwarf planets was miraculously saved. For now
Red dwarfs are very abundant. They tend to have planets, often similar to Earth, and in habitable zones. But they are angry stars that often fire one supereruption after another. Until now, we thought it was a fatal problem for the habitability of their planets or perhaps the possible presence of life. But as it turned out, it could be a little different.
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The red dwarf super-eruptions probably don’t target planets. Credit: NASA, ESA and D. Player (STScI).
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A partial scientific problem sometimes becomes a thrilling sci-fi thriller. This seems to be the question of the possible existence of life on the planets of the red dwarfs. As is well known, red dwarfs are very common and commonly have planets, often similar to Earth and in a habitable zone. If these planets were at least theoretically habitable, this would substantially increase the number of habitable worlds of the Milky Way.
Ekaterina Ilin. Kredit: AIP.
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When it turned out that red dwarves were very common and often firing wild supererups, it was like an ice shower for the hopes of the habitability of their planets. A planet tanned by supereruptions is not a very attractive place for terrestrial-type life. It seemed that only a miracle could save the habitability of the red dwarf planets.
And strangely, miracles happen sometimes. Ekaterina Ilin from the German Leibniz Institute for Astrophysics Potsdam (AIP) and her colleagues snatched the habitability of the red dwarf planets from the shovel with little exaggeration. They used data from the TESS (Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite) space telescope, which is a specialist in searching for exoplanets, but also observes other things. Stellar eruptions can also be found in his data.
Red dwarf planets, such as TRAPPIST-1, orbit in close proximity. Credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech.
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Researchers have focused in detail on the stellar eruptions of red dwarfs. And they discovered a fundamental thing that changes everything. It seems that the distribution of stellar eruptions of red dwarfs is completely different from that of our Sun, which we know well, and therefore we tend to evaluate the surrounding stars according to it.
Solar flares typically explode in the region of the Sun’s equator. Therefore, these outbursts of particles and energy have an unpleasant tendency to hit the planets of the solar system, including the Earth. Because they’re basically orbiting the Sun’s equator. Probably everyone intuitively thought it was the same on the red dwarfs. A star like a star. However, this is not the case. Red dwarfs launch eruptions much closer to the poles. On Earth, we would say roughly beyond the Arctic Circle. Such eruptions are unlikely to hit any planets. The study includes only four red dwarfs, which is not much. But if its results are confirmed, astrobiologists can celebrate. The Milky Way could be inhabited by habitable planets.
Literature
Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society online 5. 8. 2021.
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