If the activity around AU Mic is typical of the planet-birthing process among red dwarfs, it could further reduce prospects of habitable worlds across our galaxy. The observations are led by John Wisniewski of the University of Oklahoma in Norman, whose team is composed of 14 astronomers from the U.S. 'The Earth, we know, formed 'dry,' with a hot, molten surface, and accreted atmospheric water and other volatiles for hundreds of millions of years, being enriched by icy material from comets and asteroids transported from the outer solar system,' said co-investigator Glenn Schneider of Steward Observatory in Tucson, Arizona. If this same transport system is needed for planets in the AU Mic system, then they may end up 'dry' and dusty - inhospitable for life as we know it.

Comets and asteroids are important because they are believed to have seeded rocky planets such as Earth with water and organic compounds, the chemical building blocks for life. In that short time, icy material from comets and asteroids could be cleared out of the disk. If the disk continues to dissipate at this rapid pace, it will be gone in about 1.5 million years. Red dwarfs, which are smaller and fainter than our Sun, are the most abundant and longest-lived stars in the galaxy.įast-moving blobs of material appear to be ejecting particles from the AU Mic disk. This hypothesis is based on surprising observations of a rapidly eroding dust-and-gas disk encircling the young, nearby red dwarf star AU Microscopii (AU Mic) by Hubble and the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope (VLT) in Chile. Water and organic compounds, essential for life as we know it, may get blown away before they can reach the surface of young planets. Rocky planets orbiting red dwarf stars may be bone dry and lifeless, according to a new study using NASA's Hubble Space Telescope. Without enrichment from comet and asteroid material, the planets may end up dry, dusty, and lifeless. Planets, however, would be too massive to be displaced. Smaller bodies, such as comets and asteroids, could be cleared out of the disk within that short time span. If the disk around AU Mic continues to dissipate at the current pace, it will be gone in about 1.5 million years, which is the blink of an eye in cosmic time. Such energetic activity is common among young red dwarfs. One theory is that powerful mass ejections from the turbulent star expelled them. Astronomers don’t yet know how the blobs were launched. The disk is being excavated by fast-moving blobs of material, which are acting like a snowplow by pushing small particles - possibly containing water and other volatiles - out of the system. Researchers using the Hubble Space Telescope and the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope (VLT) in Chile have discovered a rapidly eroding dust-and-gas disk encircling the young, nearby red dwarf star AU Microscopii (AU Mic). If the same life-nurturing process is needed for planets around red dwarfs, then they may be in trouble. Earth, which formed as a 'dry' planet, was seeded over hundreds of millions of years with icy material from comets and asteroids arriving from the outer solar system. The bad news is that many of these rocky planets may not harbor water and organic material, the necessary ingredients for life as we know it. The temperate climates on such worlds could allow for oceans to exist on their surface, possibly nurturing life. Some of these rocky worlds are orbiting within the habitable zones of several nearby red dwarfs. Surveys by NASA's Kepler Space Telescope and other observatories have shown that rocky planets are common around these diminutive stars. In fact, red dwarfs presumably contain the bulk of our galaxy's planet population, which could number tens of billions of worlds. That award goes to red dwarfs, stars that are smaller and cooler than our Sun. Our Sun is not one of the most abundant types of star in our Milky Way galaxy. Four Successful Women Behind the Hubble Space Telescope's Achievements.Characterizing Planets Around Other Stars.Measuring the Universe's Expansion Rate.

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