Looking for Goldilocks

Some scientists think a nearby red dwarf star could support life. Others are not so sure

- JESS THOMSON

The exoplanets orbiting around our neighboring star TRAPPIST-1 may have more of a chance of having life than previously thought. According to a preliminary report to be published in the journal Astronomy and Astrophysics, TRAPPIST-1 emits solar flares that may provide the planets with enough energy for life to evolve.

TRAPPIST-1 is a red dwarf star located about 40.7 light years away from our solar system. Four of its seven planets are situated in the

“Goldilocks zone,” the band of space around a star where the temperatures permit liquid water to exist on the surface. Its relative proximity to Earth—our Milky Way galaxy is about 100,000 light-years across— and its multiple Goldilocks planets, have made TRAPPIST-1 a focal point in the search for life on other planets.

Red dwarves like TRAPPIST-1 frequently produce solar flares which, while dangerous, could also provide their planets with the energy necessary for life. “Although high energetic radiation from flares is a potential threat to exoplanet atmospheres and may lead to surface sterilization, it might also provide the extra energy for low-mass stars needed to trigger and sustain prebiotic chemistry,” wrote the paper’s authors in the abstract of the preprint report.

Laura McKemmish, a quantum chemist and molecular physicist at the University of New South Wales, tells