All articles tagged with #m dwarfs
Seven candidate Dyson spheres identified by Project Hephaistos may actually be distant, dusty quasars, raising questions about their true nature. While some astronomers suggest these candidates could be extreme debris discs or background contamination from "Hot DOGs" (dust-obscured galaxies), further spectroscopic observations, potentially using the James Webb Space Telescope, are needed to confirm their identity.
A new analysis presented at the Goldschmidt geochemistry conference reveals that there may be a significantly higher number of Earth-like exoplanets with liquid water than previously thought, increasing the chances of finding life. The study suggests that even if the surface of a planet is frozen, there are geological conditions under the surface that can support liquid water. Moons like Europa and Enceladus, which have substantial underground liquid water despite frozen surfaces, are considered prime candidates for finding life. The research focused on exoplanets orbiting M-dwarfs, the most common type of stars in our galaxy. The findings indicate that the probability of finding liquid water on exoplanets could be as high as one planet per star, a hundred times more likely than previously estimated.
A new study suggests that one-third of planets around M dwarfs, the most common type of star in the Milky Way, may be suitable for life, meaning there are likely hundreds of millions of habitable planets in the galaxy alone. The study used data from the Kepler mission and the European Space Agency's Gaia satellite to fine-tune measurements of exoplanets' orbits and determine which planets were at risk of tidal heating, a process that can burn away a planet's chances for habitability. The results were published in the journal PNAS.