Red dwarfs may be dim, but they host more Earth-like planets than any other kind of star. | Analysis by BadAstronomer
When I was younger, I gazed at the stars at night and wondered how many possessed planets like Earth. Being a Star Trek nerd, I couldn’t help but imagine a universe where stars were fecund and planets were everywhere. But not knowing was agony.Even better, this story also comes with a twist worthy of an eyebrow-raise from Mr. Spock : most planets orbiting distant stars—what we call exoplanets—do not circle around ones like the sun.
Astronomers discovered the first-known exoplanets in the early 1990s , ones often called “pulsar planets.” But those worlds orbit a dead star and are lethally zapped by high-energy radiation to boot. For those of us hoping to find more clement Earth-like worlds, that wasn’t very satisfying. As time went on more planets like that were found, and statistics were updated. For example, in 2013 it looked like as many as one in six stars had an Earth-sized planet. Many of these worlds would be too hot for life as we know it, but that number was skewed because of the way planets were discovered; ones close in to their stars are easier to find.
But don’t confuse their feeble nature with a lack of stature; they’re the most common kind of star in the galaxy, outnumbering all other stars by more than two to one. By comparison the sun is a rare behemoth, in the top 20 percent of stars by mass. As an example, one planet in particular discovered in the new survey is called Wolf 1069b. It orbits a very small red dwarf, just one sixth the mass of the sun. The planet is likely about the same size as Earth, and a little more massive. That’s encouraging.
And this leads to the more general—and, in my opinion, more awe-inspiring—result of the survey: looking at so many stars, they found that the average number of planets per star in their sample is about 1.4, and that roughly 94 percent of the stars have planets. In other words, nearly all red dwarfs have planets, and the ones that do tend to have more than one planet orbiting them.
United States Latest News, United States Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
It’s a cosmic miracle that life on Earth’s lasted this longAn earth scientist modeled our planet's history and future against other planets and exoplanets to reflect the changing characteristics of the solar system.
Read more »
VIDEO - Woman Saves Injured Dog from Busy Interstate: 'Angel on Earth'Drivers on I-94 in Detroit, Michigan, recently helped save an injured German Shepherd when it became trapped on the roadway.
Read more »
UA researchers: Ancient ocean floor near Earth’s core may have heat safety valvesThe findings could help scientists understand how heat escapes from the Earth's core.
Read more »
Exploring Earth From Space: Seoul, South KoreaSouth Korea’s capital city, Seoul, and its surroundings are featured in this satellite image, captured by the Copernicus Sentinel-2 mission on February 21, 2023. Situated some 50 km (30 miles) south of the North Korean border, the metropolitan area of Seoul appears as the grey area in the center of
Read more »
The Earth's Core Is Wrapped in the Floor of an Ancient Ocean, Scientists SayThe core-mantle boundary is dotted with Everest-dwarfing 'mountains' made of ocean floors that were dragged to the interior over millions of years.
Read more »
5 of the Most Isolated Peoples on Earth🔄FROM THE ARCHIVE And why you should probably never meet some of them.
Read more »