Red dwarf stars are the most common in the Universe, and are pretty good at forming rocky planets in their habitable zones (HZs). This includes Proxima b (the closest exoplanet to our Solar System)
Host | Matthew S Williams
On ITSPmagazine 👉 https://itspmagazine.com/itspmagazine-podcast-radio-hosts/matthew-s-williams
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Episode Notes
Red dwarf stars are the most common in the Universe, and are pretty good at forming rocky planets in their habitable zones (HZs). This includes Proxima b (the closest exoplanet to our Solar System). But red dwarfs are known for being temperamental and prone to flares. As a result, the debate continues as to whether or not planets orbiting these stars could support life.
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Resources
Could Earth Life Survive on a Red Dwarf Planet? - Universe Today: https://www.universetoday.com/166157/could-earth-life-survive-on-a-red-dwarf-planet/
Red Dwarf Stars Might Be Able to Hold Onto Their Atmospheres After All - Universe Today: https://www.universetoday.com/169037/red-dwarf-stars-might-be-able-to-hold-onto-their-atmospheres-after-all/
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For more podcast Stories from Space with Matthew S Williams, visit: https://itspmagazine.com/stories-from-space-podcast
Are Red Dwarf Star Systems Habitable? | Stories From Space Podcast With Matthew S Williams
[00:00:00] The authors acknowledge that this podcast was recorded on the
traditional unceded lands of the Lekwungen peoples. Hello and welcome back
to Stories from Space. I'm your host Matt Williams and today, and I know I say
this often, but it's true, I wanted to get into another topic that is near and dear to
my heart.
In this case, it has to do with the habitability of red dwarf planet systems. And
this has become an immensely significant question in recent years, thanks to the
explosion in the number of known or confirmed exoplanets. So they're now part
of the exoplanet census. As of the recording of this episode, 5, 811 exoplanets
have been confirmed in more than 4, 000 solar systems.
And so far, only 210 of these have been confirmed to be terrestrial planets,
which is to say, rocky and [00:01:00] comparable in size to Earth. However, a
surprising number of these particular planets have been found orbiting red
dwarf suns, many of which are located within 50 light years of Earth.
Essentially, virtually all Earth like planets discovered within a 50 light year
radius have been found orbiting red dwarf suns.
And to make matters even more interesting, many of these were found within
their star's circumsolar habitable zone, or Goldilocks zone. As we explored in a
previous episode, this term refers to the orbit a planet needs to have in order to
receive enough solar energy from its parent star to maintain liquid water on its
surface.
As we also addressed, planets that orbit within the zone are considered
potentially habitable by scientists, meaning that they are a good candidate, at
least in theory, for supporting life. And to give you a sense of some of these
planets, a number of familiar names are likely to leap out [00:02:00] here. The
potentially habitable planets that are within 50 light years of Earth include the
closest exoplanet to our solar system, Proxima b.
which is located in the Proxima Centauri system roughly 4. 25 light years away.
And Proxima is part of the trinary star system, which consists of Alpha Centauri
A and B, a tightly bound sun like star, along with a slightly less massive orange
dwarf star, and Proxima Centauri, a more distant red dwarf star.
And based on the best estimates we have available, this planet is believed to
have an equilibrium temperature of about minus 43 degrees Celsius, or minus49 degrees Fahrenheit. And while this may sound bloody cold, keep in mind
that Earth's equilibrium temperature is minus 18. 15 degrees Celsius, or minus
0.
67 Fahrenheit. So, certainly more frigid, on average, but as we shall explore,
this is [00:03:00] due to the nature of its orbit, which is tidally locked. Second,
you have Ross 128b, another rocky planet that's located in Ross 128, roughly 11
light years from Earth. And according to our estimate, this planet is even
bombier than Earth, with an equilibrium temperature of 7 degrees Celsius, or 44
degrees Fahrenheit.
And then you have the TRAPPIST 1 system, which possesses no less than 7
rocky planets, located roughly 41 light years from Earth. Now 4 of those 7
planets all reside within the star's circumsolar habitable zone. And whereas
some are more suitable to life as we know it, they all manage to make the cut.
Whereas the innermost planets, B and C, are considered far too hot to retain an
atmosphere, planets D and E are both comparable in size to Earth, although less
massive, and have equilibrium temperatures of about 15 and minus 46 degrees
Celsius, [00:04:00] respectively, or 5 and minus 46 degrees Fahrenheit. And
while planets F and G are more massive, making them comparable in size and
mass to Earth, they have lower equilibrium temperatures.
They get quite frigid. Minus 73 and minus 91 degrees Celsius, respectively, or
minus 100 and minus 132 degrees Fahrenheit. And so, these and other
exoplanets that have been found orbiting red dwarfs, they've indicated to
scientists that In terms of rocky planet production, red dwarfs are pretty good at
turning them out, and not only that, they're pretty good at turning out ones that
will orbit within their habitable zones.
And when you combine that with the fact that red dwarf stars are the most
common type in the universe, accounting for 75 percent of stars in our galaxy
alone, you can begin to understand why the question of whether or not these
stars could be habitable is such a big deal. [00:05:00] For SETI researchers and
those who have dreamt of the day when we might achieve contact with other
life in the universe, or just find evidence of it and thus know that we're not alone
in the universe, red dwarf stars present a very, very encouraging case for life.
Knowing that these star systems could produce rocky planets and habitable
planets to boot, would exponentially increase the odds of us ever finding
extraterrestrial life and extraterrestrial civilization. So naturally, all of theseplanets are considered excellent opportunities for follow up studies and also for
robotic precursor missions when they become available.
Concepts like Breakthrough Starshot or Swarming Proxima Centauri have been
proposed. Unfortunately, scientists still aren't sure if life could actually survive
on any of these potentially habitable rocky planets that orbit these red dwarf
suns, and this is due to a [00:06:00] number of very interesting characteristics
that red dwarfs have.
Compared to our Sun, they are low mass, very long lived, remaining in their
main sequence phase for up to trillions of years, and are also dim and rather
cool compared to our Sun. On top of that, they are prone to flare activity, which,
for many scientists, rules out the possibility of life existing there, at least for
very long, especially in the event of superflares, which are powerful enough to
eliminate an atmosphere as dense as Earth's.
Now, given the fact that we have not been able to study any of these planets
directly yet, because of their smaller size and because they orbit rather closely
to their suns, scientists are forced to infer what conditions could be like based
on both known and unknown parameters. And because of this, the debate goes
back and forth.
Are red dwarf systems habitable? And with every new bit of [00:07:00] research
that emerges, it seems the pendulum swings one way or the other. And to
summarize the challenges that life would face in these worlds, four basic
categories can be identified. One is flare activity. The second, as mentioned, has
to do with tidal locking, or the nature of orbit with these planets around their
suns, that they may, in fact, have too much water to be considered habitable,
and that they might not be getting enough of the right kind of photons to fuel
processes like photosynthesis.
Which, as we know from studying life on Earth, was absolutely essential to
creating life as it is today. So, to address tidal locking first, because this is
related to several other issues here, when it comes to red dwarf stars being
smaller and also cooler than your average sunlight star or anything larger, this
means that their habitable zones are narrower and much closer to the star's face.
So [00:08:00] essentially, any planet that is orbiting within its habitable zone is
going to be tightly bound to the star, and its gravity will affect the planet's
rotation. And this is something that astronomers have observed for a very long
time with Earth's moon. We know from millennia of observations and decadesof Direct studies there since the space age that when we look up at the moon at
night, we are constantly seeing the same side.
And what we know as the dark side of the moon is actually not dark, it's merely
the side facing away from us. It's merely dark in the sense that it's not well
known. In any case, this is due to tidal locking, or otherwise known as
synchronous rotation, where a planet's rotation becomes synchronized with its
orbit around a larger object.
Which leads to one side constantly facing towards it. And in the case of a rocky
planet orbiting within the habitable zone of a red dwarf sun, this means that one
side will experience constant [00:09:00] daylight, while the other is in perpetual
darkness. Alternately, the planet may be slightly farther out, still within the
habitable zone where it may achieve a three to two orbital resonance, which is
precisely what Mercury has with our sun, which means that the planet will
experience three spins on its axis per every two orbital periods it makes around
its sun.
And as a result of this, you do not have one side with perpetual daylight and the
other side with darkness. Or rather, one side experiencing daylight for an
extended period of time. In Mercury's case, it has a rotational period of about 59
days, but an orbital period of 88. In other words, if you add up three rotational
periods, you end up with 176 days.
Which is the equivalent to two orbital periods, 88 times 2 equals 176. As for
what [00:10:00] this means for anything on the surface, rather than one side
experiencing constant daylight and the other side experiencing constant night,
you have a situation where a solar day, as it's called, which is to say the time it
takes for the sun to set and rise again and return to the same place in the sky,
which on Earth is 24 hours, will also last 176 Earth days.
So basically, planets orbiting red dwarf stars are likely to either experience very
long days and very long nights, or constant day on only one side of the planet.
And this could have significant consequences for habitability. Because if, in
fact, a planet receives all of its solar irradiance on one side, it will likely become
what scientists refer to as an eyeball planet.
Thank you very much. Which could be either hot or cold. And whereas a hot
eyeball planet is likely to be dry and irradiated on the sun facing [00:11:00]
side, the dark side is likely to be covered in water, most likely frozen. On the
other hand, cold eyeball planets are likely to arise where you have rocky planets
with an abundance of liquid water.And on the sun facing side you'd have a liquid water ocean, whereas on the dark
side it would be completely covered in glacial ice. Unless, of course, there's
adequate heat transfer between one side of the planet and the other. And this has
been the subject of considerable research. And what scientists have determined
is that the presence of a sufficiently dense atmosphere to protect from solar
irradiance on the sun facing side, plus an adequate supply of water, could, in
theory, allow for Enough heat to be transferred around the planet for it to be
circulated to the point that a habitable environment could be maintained and life
would have a fighting chance.
This brings us to the issue of flares. As noted, [00:12:00] red dwarf stars are
known for being more variable and volatile than their larger stellar peers. They
can lose up to 40 percent of their luminosity for months due to sunspots forming
across their surfaces, and at other times they can double their brightness by
emitting a giant flare or superflare.
And according to information gathered by NASA's Galaxy Evolution Explorer,
Which was a space telescope designed to survey the universe in the ultraviolet.
Even calmer and older red dwarf stars produce lots of flares. And while the kind
of flares a red dwarf would produce are lower in intensity than what is typically
observed with more massive stars, They are much more frequent, and they are
especially bright in the ultraviolet wavelength.
And, as we know from research here on Earth, ultraviolet radiation can be
harmful to life. In sufficient quantities, it can kill. Especially where exposure is
persistent, or if [00:13:00] the intensity of it is high enough. Ergo, rocky planets
that are tidally locked with their red dwarf suns will be exposed to rather
powerful bursts of radiation that will consistently hit the planet's atmosphere on
the same side.
And the concern here is that that kind of activity will strip the planet's
atmosphere over time, unless, of course, the planet has a magnetic field. And
this is what scientists have observed with Mars. It is understood, thanks to
multiple lines of research, that Mars once had a magnetic field, but that it
disappeared roughly 4 billion years ago.
And as a result, the denser atmosphere that was once there, which allowed for
liquid water on the surface, it was slowly stripped away. And the surface
became dry, irradiated, and very, very cold. So this could be the fate of those
tidally locked planets around Red Horse. But to make matters worse,
astronomers have observed superflare [00:14:00] events that were 10, 000 times
more energetic than the average.So, while regular flare activity could have a limited effect on a planet's
atmosphere and any life on the surface, the superflares that have been observed
would be capable of stripping an atmosphere entirely, and rather quickly at that.
And to investigate this further, there was a 2020 study by researchers from the
University of North Carolina and the University of Barcelona Which attempted
to assess the impact of super flares on planetary habitability for rocky planets,
and they found that planets orbiting within the habitable zones of a red dwarf
sun may experience, quote, life prohibiting levels of UV radiation.
Though they did indicate that microbial life might still be able to survive. And
another study released in 2024, led by the Cavendish Laboratory at the
University of Cambridge, and the Institute for Astronomy at the University of
[00:15:00] Hawaii, and the Center for Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics at
Ohio State University, They determined that red dwarf suns emit more radiation
in the far ultraviolet part of the spectrum than previously thought.
And this is especially worrisome because the far infrared part of the spectrum is
where the most deadly rays reside. And in fact, far UV radiation has been used
in medical science for destroying viruses, bacteria, and fungi. So 2020 study
that said microbial life could survive, It's beginning to look like it would not.
Furthermore, in 2017, researchers from the Harvard Smithsonian Center for
Astrophysics, Professors Lingham and Lowe, conducted two studies that
attempted to model flare activity, specifically in the TRAPPIST 1 system. In
their first study, they considered how the system's planets would experience
elevated levels of stellar wind pressure, which would strip the atmospheres over
[00:16:00] time.
In addition, they found that strong flares in the UV and X ray band would
further strip the planets atmospheres. And in their second study, professors
Lingham and Loeb calculated that TRAPPIST 1 bombards its system of planets,
With stellar winds that are 1, 000 to 100, 000 times more powerful than solar
wind.
And it was also in the study that they determined that the TRAPPIST 1 star's
magnetic field is likely connected to its planet's magnetic fields, assuming they
have them. And whereas the presence of a magnetic field would ordinarily
provide protection against stellar wind, The fact that these planets would be
connected that way, this would allow stellar wind to flow directly from the star
onto the planet's atmospheres in succession, making it especially detrimental to
their atmospheres and making allowances though for sufficiently dense
atmospheres and magnetic fields that could prevent atmospheric stripping.Another [00:17:00] issue with red dwarfs is the wavelengths of light that they
emit. And according to current research, most of the photons that red dwarfs
emit are in the red and infrared wavelengths, which could mean that any life on
the surface would not be getting the right kind of light in order for
photosynthetic organisms to emerge and evolve.
And according to the fossil record, the emergence of photosynthetic organisms
happened here on Earth roughly 3. 5 billion years ago, and they altered Earth's
atmosphere, which was predominantly composed of nitrogen, carbon dioxide,
and volcanic gases. And they began to slowly convert the CO2 into oxygen gas,
which led to some drastic changes and to the evolution of more complex
organisms.
And this was a major evolutionary event because, for the first billion years,
simple bacteria were the only life that existed on planet Earth. But from this
point forward, known as the Great [00:18:00] Oxygenation Event, evolution
was essentially accelerated. And, essentially, photosynthesis comes down to
plants, bacteria, foliage.
They absorb light in the red and blue parts of the spectrum and reflect it out as
green. But, since light emitted by red dwarfs falls within the infrared and red
parts of the spectrum, photosynthesis may not be able to occur. In addition, in a
bit of a twist, a 2000 study by astronomers at the Harvard Smithsonian Center
for Astrophysics, they considered that while red dwarfs may produce too much
UV in the form of superflares for life to emerge and thrive, that they also may
not produce enough UV radiation for early life to emerge as part of their regular
cycle.
And specifically, this study looked at UV radiation and how it may have
allowed for early life to emerge because it played a major role in the formation
of ribonucleic acid, or [00:19:00] RNA. And it was the emergence of RNA on
Earth billions of years ago that also allowed for the evolution of complex
organisms.
And according to the research team, rocky planets that orbit red dwarfs receive
on average about 100 to 1, 000 times less UV radiation than Earth. And last but
not least, research conducted on the many rocky planets that have been
observed around red dwarf suns have determined that perhaps they have too
much water.
In particular, a 2016 study led by researchers from the University of Bern They
modeled the formation of planets around red dwarf stars, and concluded that in10 cases, rocky planets would be more than 10 percent water by mass. And for
comparison, Earth, even though we know that the surface is predominantly
covered in water, water nevertheless only accounts for 0.
[00:20:00] 05 percent of the planet's mass. And this was followed by a study in
2018 by the Arizona State's School of Earth and Space Exploration, where they
examined the TRAPPIST 1 planets and concluded that they would range from
15 to 50 percent water by mass. In a similar vein, the Pale Red Dot campaign,
which is an international collaboration dedicated to finding rocky planets
around red dwarf suns, They conducted a study in 2016 using a series of
internal structure models and they found that super Earths, rocky planets that
are several times the size and mass of Earth, that they too are likely to have
many, many times the water of Earth.
And another study based on Kepler data combined with the European Space
Agency's Gaia Observatory, it indicated that super Earths that are 2. 5 times as
large and up to 10 times as massive as Earth are likely to be up to 50 percent
water by [00:21:00] mass. And this is rather significant because according to the
current exoplanet census, super Earths account for roughly 30 percent of all
confirmed candidates.
Now, of course, the current exoplanet census is hardly complete, but
nevertheless, this does indicate that super Earths are quite common out there.
And what this would mean is essentially, most of the planets, at least those that
we can currently account for, would essentially be water worlds. Which is to
say, their structure would be that of a rocky and metallic core, surrounded by a
very thick mantle of water.
And this water would likely be frozen on the surface, except for the sun facing
side, so once again you have an eyeball planet. But the depth of the water would
imply that you'd have a liquid upper portion on top of a extremely dense, under
very tight pressure, solid [00:22:00] portion. So you'd have a very thick sheet of
ice formed up against the core, which is in a solid state, not because of
temperature, but because of pressure.
And this is much like what scientists predict with the gas giants, that you have
hydrogen under such intense pressure that it becomes metallic hydrogen. So all
of that is essentially very bad news for life, at least as we know it, because using
Earth as our template, research has shown that a careful balance between oceans
and continents is essential to the evolution of life.It certainly was for life here on Earth. In fact, the Cambrian Explosion, which
was a period of rapid evolution of life, which took place around 540 million
years ago, this saw most of the major animal phyla that exist today suddenly
appear in the fossil record. Now, by suddenly, of course, we mean over the
course of many millions of years.
But, Scientists, for a long time, have struggled to [00:23:00] explain how this
explosion occurred, and one of the predominant theories is that it had to do with
the breakup of the supercontinent, Gondwana. And so, as this supercontinent
broke apart to form smaller continents that began drifting apart, this created a
lot of shallow waters and reefs and lots of islands, which gave rise to all kinds
of niche environments that, over time, led to the emergence of many new types
of lifeforms.
So with a water planet, where water is covering the entire surface up to a
considerable depth, hundreds of kilometers, maybe more, it's not likely that life
would have a chance. Evolution would likely be stunted and slowed. Also, as
noted, the interior structure of the planet, a major ice sheet between the core and
the upper ocean, this, too, would cause problems because, on Earth, And this is
also believed to be the case with several icy [00:24:00] moons that orbit Jupiter,
Saturn, and beyond.
The exchange of heat and chemicals, Earth's mantle and its oceans, is believed
to have given rise to the very first life forms here on Earth. According to the
fossil record, life first emerged on Earth around hypothermal vents on the ocean
floor. And so on a water world, this would also not be able to take place, which
would have dire consequences for the emergence and evolution of life as we
know it.
However, there is some good news to all of this. As I said, the research has gone
back and forth and While many studies conducted indicate that red dwarf
planets might actually be able to support life after all, in fact, a 2021 study
based on data from NASA's transiting exoplanet survey satellite demonstrated
that red dwarfs tend to release their largest megaflares [00:25:00] around their
poles.
So while orbiting planets would not be spared from all of its flare activity, they
would be spared from the worst. So those massive flares that could blow off an
atmosphere in one shot? Not likely to hurt them. In addition, a 2018 study led
by researchers from NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies Show that
planets, like Proxima b, could be habitable, despite the fact that they're tidally
locked.And the NASA researchers, they demonstrated this through 3D climate
simulations, which showed that a dayside ocean could allow for sufficient heat
transfer, so that Proxima b wouldn't become an eyeball planet. Third, a NASA
supported study that was released in 2023 showed that regular flare activity, as
opposed to superflares, could actually assist in the formation of amino and
carboxylic acids.
The fundamental building blocks for life. And what this means, [00:26:00]
essentially, is that while orbiting planets may not get enough UV radiation on
average from their red dwarf parent stars, a few flares along the way could
provide the needed push, so that evolution would not be so much stunted as
subject to lulls and sudden accelerations.
And last but not least, In 2016, Professor Avi Loeb and colleagues from the
Harvard Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, they conducted a series of
simulations that showed that red dwarf suns may have the edge when it comes
to creating life in the long term because they are so very long lived. Given what
we know about the evolutionary history of life here on Earth, it is understood
that life does take a long time to get going.
As mentioned already, for the first billion years, life on Earth consisted of single
celled bacteria. It was only over time that it began to build up and diversify to a
very great extent. [00:27:00] And so in this respect, based on numerical
simulations, Loeb and his colleagues concluded that habitable planets orbiting
red dwarf suns have the best chance over the long haul of producing life.
And there's also some ambivalent news in all this. According to some other
lines of research, it's possible that planets orbiting red dwarf suns may be
transiently habitable, but not inhabited. And this is based on the fact that they
may have too much oxygen gas in their atmosphere early on in their evolution.
in order for basic life forms to emerge. And what this comes down to is, red
dwarf stars, given that they are extremely long lived, they also have extended
pre main sequence phases. And what this means is, is that between the
formation period of a red dwarf sun, and the point where it enters its main
sequence, and it's producing enough light and heat in [00:28:00] order to be
supportive of life and habitability on its orbiting planets, There is a billion year
lull, and during this period, any planets that are orbiting within what will
become their habitable zones, they would be exposed to higher than normal
levels of radiation.And so if they have water on their surface, it will likely be chemically
disassociated to create hydrogen and oxygen gas, and this is known as
photolysis. And this is where water, H2O, is essentially broken down into its
basic constituents. And whereas the oxygen will bond to create oxygen gas, the
hydrogen gas, because of its low atomic weight, would be lost to space.
The oxygen gas would be retained, and so red dwarf planets might have oxygen
rich atmospheres, but which are not the result of photosynthesis. Once again, as
we know from the fossil record, Earth's environment, prior to the Great
Oxygenation Event, [00:29:00] was very, very different. And it was these
conditions, where the atmosphere was rich in volcanic gases and carbon
dioxide, this is what allowed the first single celled basic organisms to emerge,
which developed photosynthesis and began to convert the atmosphere.
Oxygen gas is hostile to such life forms. So by having an oxygen rich
environment early in the planet's history, it is possible that life, at least as we
know it, would not emerge at all. To that end, it has been suggested that
humanity could seed these planets with basic bacterial organisms, ones that
evolved to live in an oxygenated environment, and that this could allow for life
to emerge and grow on these planets.
And examples of this idea include Dr. Claudius Gross of the, from the Institute
for Theoretical Physics at Goethe University in [00:30:00] Frankfurt, which he
named Project Genesis. And he proposed this in a 2016 paper where he said that
robotic missions equipped with gene factories or, or cryogenic pods Could be
used to distribute microbial life to these transiently habitable exoplanets as a
way of preparing the planet for a more complex life which would evolve with
time.
So, on balance, the question remains, could these planets be habitable, and at
present all indications point to maybe. Unfortunately, we don't know, because
we don't yet have the capacity to image these planets directly, which is a major
challenge, given that they orbit rather dim stars. If we can get a direct picture of
these planets, if we can study light reflected off their atmospheres, then we
would be able to know what the composition of their atmospheres are, and
whether or not they have sufficiently dense atmospheres that can, [00:31:00]
over time, support the emergence of life, And, in the long term, robotic
precursor missions.
Ideas like Breakthrough Starshot or Swarming Proxima Centauri, and others
that call for light sails or magnetic sails that could, that could fly to these nearby
exoplanets, and take pictures, gather data, and transmit it back to Earth, allwithin the space of a few decades. Until we have missions like that, we really
can't answer definitively whether or not the most common star in the universe
is.
Which seems pretty good at forming rocky planets that would orbit within the
star's habitable zone could actually support life. And in the context of exoplanet
research and astrobiology, this is a major unresolved question. In large part
because scientists aren't sure if they're casting a wide enough net.
Naturally, we're taking the low hanging fruit approach, which consists of
looking for Earth like planets that [00:32:00] orbit Sun like stars, and also, of
course, following the water, and looking for biosignatures that include oxygen
gas, carbon dioxide, etc. But, as I've said before with this podcast, we are now at
a time when we're not going to have to wait much longer for the situation to
change.
Thanks to the James Webb Space Telescope and the next, next generation
telescopes that are planned, such as the Habitable Worlds Observatory, the
Nancy Grace Roman Telescope, and the European Space Agency's PLATO and
AERIAL space telescopes, not to mention several ground based telescopes that
will have 30 meter wide primary mirrors, astronomers will be able to study
these planets, smaller rocky planets that orbit more closely to their suns, in the
not too distant future.
Direct imaging studies will become a reality, and at that point, the process that
we currently see, where we are [00:33:00] transitioning from exoplanet
discovery to characterization, that is really going to be complete. We won't just
be finding new exoplanets and then inferring what conditions could be like on
their surface based on orbital parameters and size and mass.
We'll be able to look directly at their atmospheres and see what chemical
concentrations are there, possibly finding biosignatures and even
technosignatures. That will be a very exciting day because if we can in fact
confirm that some If not all, Red Dwarf stars are capable of having habitable
planets orbiting them.
It will mean that habitability is ubiquitous throughout the universe, because the
most common star in the universe has a relatively good shot, if not a hundred
percent shot, at supporting life. Be sure to tune in next time where we will talk
about the discoveries of the James Webb Space Telescope [00:34:00] so far, and
how they have both confirmed and upended many things that we believed about
the universe.In the meantime, thank you for listening. I'm Matt Williams, and this has been
Stories from Space.