Red Dwarf Star Systems--Could they support life?

[Lren Zvsm]

This is a question for people who know about astrophysics. It's been said that the habitable zones around red dwarf stars are so close to those stars that any planets in the zones would be tidally locked to the stars in question. With one side roasting and another side freezing almost forever, those planets wouldn't be hospitable to life.

a) Could there be forms of life--whole ecologies--that first evolve in the planet's twilight zone and then extend their habitat by burrowing underground where the temperatures would be more even on both sides of the planet?

b) Could the planets in question orbit gas giants, allowing for day and night even in the red star's habitable zones?

c) Could double planets, like the Earth/Moon system, eclipse one other often enough to allow the temperature to alternate at least on one side of the planet?

d) Could planets orbiting red dwarfs, tidally locked though they may be, be colonized cybernetic beings, which could be made of a broader range of materials than biological organisms, which would generally be made of more temperature-sensitive materials like proteins and lipids?

e) Could binary red-dwarf systems contain planets that experience day and night?

 

[phyzguy]

This is a question for people who know about astrophysics. It's been said that the habitable zones around red dwarf stars are so close to those stars that any planets in the zones would be tidally locked to the stars in question. With one side roasting and another side freezing almost forever, those planets wouldn't be hospitable to life.

I've never understood why people say this. Depending how far the planet is from the red dwarf star, the temperature on the side facing the star could be perfectly hospitable. Why does it have to "roasting"? I could imagine life that evolved on such a planet saying, "A planet like Earth is inhospitable to life, because there are periods of darkness and we know life is dependent on light."

 

[GTOM]

I've never understood why people say this. Depending how far the planet is from the red dwarf star, the temperature on the side facing the star could be perfectly hospitable. Why does it have to "roasting"? I could imagine life that evolved on such a planet saying, "A planet like Earth is inhospitable to life, because there are periods of darkness and we know life is dependent on light."

isnt it an issue, that solar flares are deadly so close to the star?

 

[Hornbein]

isnt it an issue, that solar flares are deadly so close to the star?

I dunno, how inclined are red dwarfs to solar flares?

 

[phinds]

I dunno, how inclined are red dwarfs to solar flares?

very, apparently. Google is your friend.

 

[phyzguy]

There are a lot of red dwarfs out there, and they live for a very long time. The flares tend to decrease as the stars age. Given the probably hundreds of billions of red dwarfs out there in our galaxy, I don't think you can categorically write them off by saying, "Planets around red dwarf stars can't be habitable because of flares."