The powerful winds of super magnetic stars could destroy the possibility for life on their exoplanets

[Admin]

Cool stars with powerful magnetic fields could have remarkably fast stellar winds that strip away their planets' atmospheres, making even "habitable zone" worlds less friendly to life.

The powerful winds of super magnetic stars could destroy the possibility for life on their exoplanets : Read more

 

[rod]

There has been some discussion on topics like this recently too. The space.com report opens, "Some stars have stellar winds boasting speeds as great as 5 million miles per hour, deeming even their "habitable zone" planets as not so friendly to life."

Stars with superpowered magnetic fields could narrow the search for alien life, https://forums.space.com/threads/st...could-narrow-the-search-for-alien-life.62489/

Cool stars with powerful winds threaten exoplanetary atmospheres, https://phys.org/news/2023-08-cool-stars-powerful-threaten-exoplanetary.html

 

[rod]

The space.com reported at the end. "The scientists found that K- and M-type stars, with magnetic fields stronger than that of the sun, have faster stellar winds than our star. That means their planets live in a harsher environment than planets in the solar system. The team also determined that, in terms of stellar winds, conditions around F- and G-types are milder than around M-types like our sun. Because stellar winds are one of the mechanisms by which stars lose material over time, the team's new research could also trigger a rethink of the mass-loss process. And, though this work involved just 21 stars, the results could be general enough to apply to other cool stars. This means the research paves the way for other stellar wind studies and deepen our understanding habitability in the Milky Way."

More constraints emerge now for astrobiology and abiogenesis on other worlds as more is learned about stars and their exoplanets. Presently there is a much smaller number of exoplanets where the atmospheres have been defined and studied compared to the total population reported, close to 5500 exoplanets now. http://research.iac.es/proyecto/exoatmospheres/index.php

 

[rod]

The Extrasolar Planets Encyclopaedia

World's most comprehensive interactive database of extrasolar planets updated daily since 1995.

exoplanet.eu

After reviewing the exoplanet data here, 5484 are confirmed at this site. Exoplanets documented around stars of 0.8 solar mass or smaller, total 1416 with a mean mass of about 5.8 Jupiter masses. Exoplanets that have 3 or less earth masses total 101, mean mass about 1.6 earth masses.

 

[ejaymd11]

"The sun is an average star and an example of a G-type star, for instance, which are larger and brighter than stars in the F-type category." Sorry but this is an error. F type stars are brighter and more massive than the sun.