Rapid destruction of Earth-like atmospheres by young stars
Wednesday, April 24, 2019 - 10:13
in Astronomy & Space
The discoveries of thousands of planets orbiting stars outside our solar system has made questions about the potential for life to form on these planets. Fundamentally important for the habitability of a planet is whether or not it can hold onto an atmosphere. A new study by has shown that young stars can rapidly destroy the atmospheres of Earth-like planets, which is a significant additional difficulty for the formation of life outside our solar system.