Tag

Astrospheres

All articles tagged with #astrospheres

astronomy1 year ago

"Rapid Weight Loss: Sun-like Stars Shed Pounds Due to Powerful Stellar Winds"

Astronomers have detected stellar winds blowing from three main-sequence stars similar to the sun, finding that these winds shrink about 67 times as fast as the sun's. These powerful winds can trigger processes that evaporate the atmospheres of planets orbiting these stars, affecting their potential habitability. The observation of X-rays emitted by the stars' hot plasma bubbles has provided crucial insights into the rates at which these stars lose mass via their stellar winds, shedding light on planetary system evolution and the likelihood of habitable planets.

astronomy1 year ago

"First-Ever Detection of Stellar Winds from Sun-Like Stars"

An international research team led by a University of Vienna scientist has directly detected stellar winds from three sun-like stars for the first time by recording the X-ray emission from their astrospheres, placing constraints on the mass loss rate of the stars via their stellar winds. The study, published in Nature Astronomy, observed the spectral fingerprints of oxygen ions with the XMM-Newton space telescope and estimated the mass loss rates of the stars to be much stronger than the solar wind, potentially due to stronger magnetic activity. This breakthrough paves the way for future direct detection and imaging of stellar winds, with implications for understanding stellar and planetary evolution.