PARIS: Astronomers have found that violent red dwarf stars which may be the key to turn miniature planets that resemble Neptune, into exo-Earths. Stars with a relatively low mass are seen by astronomers as the last place to look for habitable planets like the Earth.
New studies suggest that these violent leviathans of stars may turn lifeless “mini-Neptunes” into life-bearing, habitable places like Earth.
Astrophysicists have concluded that M-type red dwarf stars have two definitive characteristics. They are much too harsh to allow for the conditions on a planet to harbor life because of violent cosmic weather and extreme tides.
Since the Sun is so large, the Earth must be far away to receive the heat needed to sustain life. However, it must not be located too close that the Sun would cook the Earth into a burnt crisp of a planet – much like Mercury. As the size of the star decreases, the size of the habitable zone decreases. Therefore, planets must be orbiting very close to a red dwarf star to have the ability to sustain life.
However, there are problems with orbiting too close. Even though the planet may receive an ample amount of heat, orbiting so close would cause extreme tidal fluctuations, which would render much of the planet dry and lifeless.
Rodrigo Luger, an astronomer at the University of Washington, explained that the reasons there are tides on Earth is because the gravity of both the moon and the Sun tug on the oceans. This is why the ocean bulges at high tide. Furthermore, he stated that the people on Earth are lucky that the tides only distort the oceans and only by a few feet.
