This research could help us find aliens
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M dwarf stars tend to have more flares and activity than the sun, further reducing the likelihood that planets closely surrounding them could hold on to their atmospheres.
“It’s possible this planet’s condition could be a bad sign for planets even further away from this type of star,” Hill said. “This is something we’ll learn from the James Webb Space Telescope, which will be looking at planets like these.”
Hill’s work on this project was supported by a grant from the Future Investigators in NASA Earth and Space Science and Technology program.
There are 5,000 stars in Earth’s solar neighborhood, most of them M dwarfs. Even if planets orbiting them can be ruled out entirely, there are still roughly 1,000 stars similar to the sun that could be habitable.
“If a planet is far enough away from an M dwarf, it could potentially retain an atmosphere. We cannot conclude yet that all rocky planets around these stars get reduced to Mercury’s fate,” Hill said. “I remain optimistic.”
There are 5,000 stars around Earth’s solar system, most of which are M dwarfs. Even if the planets orbiting it were completely ruled out, there would still be about 1,000 habitable Sun-like stars.
“If planets are far enough away from M dwarfs, they may be able to retain their atmospheres. We cannot yet conclude that all rocky planets around these stars are destined for Mercury.” target.”
