Red Dwarf Stars?

Question

If most of the stars in the universe, or at least our galaxy are red dwarfs, much cooler than our sun, could life evolve on a planet with a red dwarf as its sun? Also, would Arnold Rimmer be there, quoting Space Corps directives? (Sorry, couldn't resist a little humor. For those scientists unfamiliar, "Red Dwarf" is a BBC2 comedy).

Answer 1

crabby blindguy sounds smart but gave you an essentially bogus answer. There's no reason to think most red dwarves are first generation stars. Only the oldest among them would have a greater percentage of first generation. He does not consider that new red dwarves are born all the time and at very high rates (considering that is what most stars are destined to become).

Second, the "habitable zone" is certainly narrower around a red dwarf, but it's pretty narrow around any star. (And suggesting it would be close enough for tidal effects to rip apart such a planet is, again, bogus...the habitable zone even around a red dwarf would be safe from stellar tides.) We don't have any data to suggest that red dwarves inherently have fewer planets than bigger stars or that the probability of them forming in the habitable zone are any less. We certainly have found planets around red dwarves (and many other kinds of stars).

Lastly, red dwarves are among the longest-lived stars, and that characteristic bodes well for stable conditions that would sustain life should it form in the first place. Bottom line, yeah, life could evolve on the planet of a red dwarf...and in the grand scheme of things, I would put them in the upper stack of stars that do harbor life.

Answer 2

Theoretically, yes. But its very unlikely for two reasons. First, because the stars are cooler, the planet wouldhave to be very close--and that leaves only a very narrow region its orbit would have to be in. In the case of really cool stars, that might be so close tidal forces from the star would break the planet up.

The other reason is that red dwarfs are "1st generation" stars--they are the stars taht formed early in the life of the universe, before there was much iron, etc, created by supernovas (supernova explosions are the source of most heavier elements). Consequently, any planets that formed would most likely be gas-type planets, not the "rocky" planets like Venus, Mars, and Earth. So they wouldn't be able to support life.

But the universe is a big place--and there are a LOT of red dwarfs--so there might be an exception to this here and there. But i'm afraid Rimmer is pretty much out of luck!

Answer 3

Sure, life could exist on a planet around a red dwarf. The planet would have to orbit much closer to its red dwarf sun than our Earth does around our sun, but at some close distance conditions (mostly temperature) should be right.

Answer 4

Exoplanets have been found to be orbiting red dwarf stars (including an Earth-sized one last year) though it would have to orbit very closely to receive enough heat energy to be able to support human life. Life in general is pretty good at finding ways to exist so life could form in very cold conditions... whether or not it would develop intelligence is another matter.

Answer 5

Its one of the four kind of stars. The Red Dwarfs are the smallest ones. These stars are not very hot and are small and they seem red so they are called Red Dwarfs because comparing to the other stars they're really small.