Are Red Dwarf Exoplanets Habitable? - Livestream

A lot of exciting recent news about exoplanets has involved the discovery of “Earth-sized” planets in the “habitable zone” of "red dwarf" stars. This is partly due to the fact they are easier to find than “true Earth analogs", and partly because most stars are red dwarfs. I’ll give a background on red dwarfs, and concentrate on the current debate about whether such planets could plausibly harbor life. Strikes against them include tidal locking (so one side of the planet always faces the star) and the effects of stellar magnetic activity on their atmospheres (red dwarf habitable zones are much closer to active stars). I’ll explain these and other issues in more detail and indicate how our understanding is evolving. I will also offer possible solutions to each of the concerns.

Speaker: Gibor Basri, UC Berkeley

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