BARNARD'S STAR - Are planets around red dwarfs, The most common stars in our galaxy, Habitable ?

#News: How habitable are #planets that orbit the most common type of stars in our #Galaxy? A new study using #NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory and #Hubble Space Telescope gives us new insight into that important question by examining Barnard's Star, one of the closest stars to Earth. More in the comments... ⁣
⁣
⁣🚀Visit the Chandra website to #learn more: https://chandra.harvard.edu/⁣
⁣
Illustration: NASA/CXC/M. Weiss⁣
⁣
#science #exoplanets #stars
✨1 of 1✨⁣
Just 6 light years from Earth, Barnard's Star is a red dwarf — a small star that slowly burns through its fuel supply and can last much longer than medium-sized stars like our Sun. It is about 10 billion years old, making it twice the age of the Sun.⁣
⁣
Scientists used Barnard's Star as a case study to learn how flares from an old red dwarf might affect any planets orbiting it. An artist's illustration in the video depicts an old red dwarf like Barnard's Star (right) and an orbiting, rocky planet (left).⁣
⁣
The research team's Chandra observations of Barnard's Star taken in June 2019 uncovered one X-ray flare and their Hubble observations taken in March 2019 revealed two ultraviolet high-energy flares. Both observations were about seven hours long and both plots show X-ray or ultraviolet brightness extending down to zero. Based on the length of the flares and of the observations, the authors concluded that Barnard's Star unleashes potentially destructive flares about 25% of the time.⁣
⁣
The team then studied what these results mean for rocky planets orbiting in the habitable zone — where liquid water could exist on their surface — around an old red dwarf like Barnard's Star. Any atmosphere formed early in the life of a habitable-zone planet was likely to have been eroded away by high-energy radiation from the star during its volatile youth. Later on, however, planet atmospheres might regenerate as the star becomes less active with age. This regeneration process may

Видео BARNARD'S STAR - Are planets around red dwarfs, The most common stars in our galaxy, Habitable ? канала Horizon