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Using NASA's Hubble Space Telescope, astronomers discovered that violent, or superfluous, red dwarf stars, could affect the livability of planets orbiting around the world. it.
Young, low – mbad stars manifest themselves much more frequently and with more energy. The results of the study published in the Astrophysical Journal showed the ancient stars and stars of the Middle Ages as our Sun.
The conclusions are based on observations of the burst frequency of 12 red dwarfs.
In rendering of the artist, a young active red dwarf (right) is stripping the atmosphere of a planet in orbit (left). Image: NASA
Hubble observes such stars as part of an extensive program called HAZMAT – Living Areas and Dwarf Activity M in Time.
"M dwarf" is the astronomical term used to designate a red dwarf star – the smallest, most abundant and most enduring star type of our galaxy
HAZMAT program is an ultraviolet survey of red dwarfs at three different ages – young, intermediate, and old.
"The goal of the HAZMAT program is to help understand the habitability of planets around low-mbad stars," said senior researcher Evgenya Shkolnik of the University of Arizona.
"These low-mbad stars are particularly important for understanding planetary atmospheres," Shkolnik added.
Stellar eruptions of red dwarfs are particularly bright in ultraviolet wavelengths, compared to stars similar to those of the Sun.
Hubble ultraviolet sensitivity makes telescope very useful
It is believed that eruptions are powered by intense magnetic fields that become entangled by the ambient motion of the stellar atmosphere.
When the entanglement becomes too intense, the fields break and reconnect, triggering a tremendous explosion.
The team found that the eruptions of the youngest red dwarfs studied – were barely 40 million years – 100 to 1000 times more energetic than when the stars are older.
Earth planets form around their stars at this younger age
About three-quarters of the stars in our Milky Way galaxy are red dwarfs. Most planets "habitable zones" of the galaxy – are planets revolving around their stars at a distance where the temperatures are sufficiently temperate so that liquid water can exist on their surface – revolving around red dwarfs.
In fact, the closest star to our Sun, a red dwarf named Proxima Centauri, has a planet the size of the Earth in its habitable zone.
However, the red dwarfs – are particularly young red dwarfs – are active stars, producing eruptions that could explode so much energy that it would disrupt and possibly destroy the atmosphere of these nascent planets.
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