UV radiation tagged posts

A groundbreaking study has revealed that red dwarf stars can produce stellar flares that carry far-ultraviolet (far-UV) radiation levels much higher than previously believed. This discovery suggests that the intense UV radiation from these flares could significantly impact whether planets around red dwarf stars can be habitable. Led by current and former astronomers from the University of Hawaii Institute for Astronomy (IfA), the research was recently published in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.

“Few stars have been thought to generate enough UV radiation through flares to impact planet habitability...

Rocky, Earth-like planets orbiting our closest stars could host life, according to a new study that raises the excitement about exoplanets. When rocky, Earth-like planets were discovered orbiting in the habitable zone of some of our closest stars, excitement skyrocketed – until hopes for life were dashed by the high levels of radiation bombarding those worlds.

Proxima-b, only 4.24 light years away, receives 250 times more X-ray radiation than Earth and could experience deadly levels of ultraviolet radiation on its surface...

Raman micro-spectroscopy. A, B: Thin section photomicrographs (left) and corresponding Raman intensity maps (right) of the silicified cavities showing the downward-oriented accretion and the kerogenous composition of the dark laminae. Red colors indicate kerogen-rich areas. C: Representative first-order Raman spectrum of the kerogen with the characteristic disordered peaks for amorphous carbon (D and D’) and the graphite peak (G). Credit: Geology (2016). DOI: 10.1130/G37272.1

A team of researchers from Germany and Switzerland has found examples of microbial life from >3B yrs ago, that appeared to have evaded UV radiation hiding in subsurface cavities. Scientists believe that life first came to exist on planet Earth ~3...