Solar flares on dwarf stars could threaten alien life

[Techne]

Red dwarf stars have surprisingly frequent flare-ups, scientists say, and these solar flares' effects could be deadly to life on nearby planets.

The largest flares unleash streams of particles that could play havoc with planets' atmospheres - or inhabitants.

A study of 200,000 red dwarfs - the most common type of star in our galaxy - turned up many flares of all sizes.

Scientists at the American Astronomical Society meeting said that could pose a risk to any life orbiting dwarfs.

The result is particularly relevant given the recent discovery that the Universe hosts three times as many red dwarf stars than previously thought.

So while the number of exoplanets is rising rapidly, with an implicit hope to find planets with conditions suitable for life, many questions remain about the very long-term habitability that the Earth has enjoyed.

Small danger

Solar flares unleash bright flashes of light of almost every colour, along with streams of charged particles.

High-energy protons from a flare, for example, can react with atmospheres to destroy ozone, making a planet that had an atmosphere susceptible to strong ultraviolet rays that are known to damage DNA.

"[A large flare] can have drastic and long-lasting effects on a surrounding planet's atmosphere," Adam Kowalski, the University of Washington astronomer presenting the results, told BBC News.

"You want to understand how often these large flares happen: once a month, a year a millennium?"

To that end, Mr Kowalski and his colleagues pored through data from the Hubble Space Telescope, studying a small region of sky 250 times over the course of seven nights.

The region, toward the centre of the galaxy, contains over 200,000 stars.

During that short time, the team saw over 100 high-energy flares, some of enormous intensity, changing the brightness of the star briefly by as much as 10%.

Geoff Marcy, an exoplanet expert from the University of California, Berkeley, said that was an exceptional increase.

"Such powerful flares bode ill for any possible biology, life, on any planet that happens to be close to that flaring star."

"It's extraordinary to think that the most numerous stars, the smallest ones in our galaxy, pose this threat to life."

Makes it pretty hard for life to flourish where these stars (M dwarfs or red dwarfs) are around.
Guess these guys will have to rethink after this new research:
M Dwarfs: The Search for Life is On

Yet M dwarfs (also known as red dwarfs) are by far the most common stars around, comprising some 70 percent of all the stars in our galaxy.

 

[Nokkie]

this just sounds like another cover up, lets fool the public with these types of stories "suckers"

what if the alien races are so advanced that they need not to worry about any types of threats from red dwarfs?

I mean look at our own sun we as a race are inferior towards it...

 

[Techne]

You have to wonder how life evolves in M Dwarf systems when it ejects these flares. Maybe that is why we haven't found ET yet? ET has been fried by M dwarfs over and over .

 

[Picard]

You have to wonder how life evolves in M Dwarf systems when it ejects these flares. Maybe that is why we haven't found ET yet? ET has been fried by M dwarfs over and over .

Maybe we have a very limited understanding of what "life" really is.

Just like there are some bacteria that can only survive in extreme heat and pressure (like in some natural hot spring geysers), just so alien life might flourish on some planets with extreme conditions.

 

[Techne]

Maybe we have a very limited understanding of what "life" really is.

Just like there are some bacteria that can only survive in extreme heat and pressure (like in some natural hot spring geysers), just so alien life might flourish on some planets with extreme conditions.

True. Given what we understand about life, we can at least deduce one fact common to just about all substances we label as "life" and that is homeostasis. All living things are capable of performing some sort of homeostatic function and such a function is characterized by 3 mechanisms:
1) Sensing
2) Processing
3) Responding

These 3 mechanisms of homeostasis in living things are thus responsible for metabolism, repairing and the capability of replication. How these constant flares interact with and affect the development of life is an interesting question.

 

[Nothxkbi]

Maybe we have a very limited understanding of what "life" really is.

Just like there are some bacteria that can only survive in extreme heat and pressure (like in some natural hot spring geysers), just so alien life might flourish on some planets with extreme conditions.

Another form of life exists in the basal water system below Antarctica. Scientists believe that thin layer between ice and solid bedrock may contain a biological environment which has flourished there for millions of years. Imagine that, who'd have thought in the most bitterly cold environment with extreme pressure, tiny little organisms have found a home.

Link

 

[AstroTurf]

Solar flares could apparently destroy earth as well, oh wait, planets with life have this protective layer called an atmosphere.

 

[AstroTurf]

LOL true. Doubt silica based life forms would need an atmosphere (except perhaps as fuel for there nuclear cores).

 

[Techne]

Solar flares could apparently destroy earth as well, oh wait, planets with life have this protective layer called an atmosphere.

Some solar flares actually destroy atmospheres...repeatedly.

LOL true. Doubt silica based life forms would need an atmosphere (except perhaps as fuel for there nuclear cores).

And this based on.... speculation.

 

[AstroTurf]

Some solar flares actually destroy atmospheres...repeatedly.


And this based on.... speculation.

Why does this remind me of penn, teller and a grapefruit?

 

[Techne]

Why does this remind me of penn, teller and a grapefruit?

Low on Vitamin C?

 

[D34M0n7]

Why does this remind me of penn, teller and a grapefruit?

Because thats how the world is going to end in 2012!

 

[AstroTurf]

Because thats how the world is going to end in 2012!

I am more worried about all those steps on the myan pyramids!