Green plants on red planets: would photosynthesis work?
Sunlight fuels photosynthesis here on Earth, which in turn sustains all life on our planet. But how would this crucial process work on planets which orbit fainter stars?
Let’s Not Make Assumptions: UV Radiation Won’t Stop Exoplanets from Becoming Habitable
We know UV radiation isn’t good for us, but can it hold back all forms of life?
Searching for Earth-like worlds with a fine-toothed (Astro)comb
A combination of infrared spectrograph and laser frequency comb provides unprecedented precisions in the hunt for habitable planets around nearby, cool stars.
Our M-dwarf Models Just Aren’t Good Enough
We need to know the radii of M-dwarfs to study their exoplanets, and the models aren’t much help.
Cool Stars 20
This week about 500 astronomers met in Boston, MA for the 20th Cambridge Workshop on Cool stars, Stellar Systems, and the Sun (Cool Stars) meeting.
Fraught with Spots
If we don’t understand starspots, we won’t understand exoplanet atmospheres.