#SGU #TheSkepticsGuideToTheUniverse
The Skeptics Guide #1073 - Jan 31 2026

News Items: #Artemis Getting Ready for #Launch, New #Extinct Branch of #Life, Why We Need #Wikipedia, Ideological #Bias in #Research, Expanding the #Habitable Zone; Who's That #Noisy; Your Questions and E-mails: #Kesterite Solar Panels; From #TikTok: Coincidence?; #Science or Fiction

Webseite der Episode: https://www.theskepticsguide.org/podcast/sgu

Mediendatei: https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/skepticsguide/skepticast2026-01-31.mp3

#mwgic #2026 #Astronomy #Astrophysics #Exoplanets #KtypeStars #Habitability #Habitable

https://www.sciencealert.com/hundreds-of-nearby-stars-flagged-as-prime-candidates-to-support-life

The #Sun regularly produces energetic outbursts of electromagnetic radiation called solar #flares.

When these flares are accompanied by flows of plasma, they are known as coronal mass ejections (CMEs).

Now, astronomers have spotted a similar event occurring on a #star other than our Sun – the first unambiguous detection of a CME outside our solar system.

The detection consiats of short, intense #radio signals from a star located around 40 light-years away from Earth.

This star, called StKM 1-1262, is very different from our Sun. At only around half of the Sun’s mass, it is classed as an M-dwarf star. It also rotates 20 times faster and boasts a magnetic field 300 times stronger.

Nevertheless, the burst it produced had the same frequency, time and polarization properties as the plasma emission from an event called a solar type II burst that astronomers identify as a fast CME when it comes from the Sun.

This detection has implications for extraterrestrial #life, as most of the known #planets are thought to orbit #stars of this type, and such bursts could be powerful enough to strip their atmospheres.

Intense space weather may be even more extreme around smaller stars – the primary hosts of potentially #habitable #exoplanets.

This has important implications for how these planets keep hold of their atmospheres and possibly remain habitable over time.

#astronomy #astrobiology
https://physicsworld.com/a/astronomers-observe-a-coronal-mass-ejection-from-a-distant-star/

Paper by Callingham et al. (2025):
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-025-09715-3

Of the seven Earth-sized worlds orbiting the red dwarf #star TRAPPIST-1, one #planet in particular has attracted the attention of scientists, because it orbits the star within the distance where water on its surface is theoretically possible – but only if the planet has an #atmosphere.

The basic thesis for TRAPPIST-1e is this: If it has an atmosphere, it’s #habitable.

Now, based on an examination of four of the planet's transits with transmission spectroscopy, astronomers have identified weak fingerprints of #methane.

But this does not necessarily imply the planet has an atmosphere and is habitable because it is not certain whether the methane is attributable to molecules in the atmosphere of the planet or in the host #star.

Or perhaps the tentative detection is not true at all.

#astronomy #astrobiology #exoplanets
https://astrobiology.com/2025/12/a-new-look-at-trappist-1e-an-earth-sized-habitable-zone-exoplanet.html

Paper by Ranjan et al. (2025): https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/2041-8213/ae1026

The #exoplanet TRAPPIST-1 d intrigues astronomers looking for possibly #habitable worlds beyond our solar system because it is similar in size to Earth, rocky, and resides in an area around its #star where liquid water on its surface is theoretically possible.

But new results indicate that it does not have an Earth-like #atmosphere.

With the #JWST, astronomers attempted to determine the composition of the planet's atmosphere, but could not detect common molecules such as water, methane, or carbon dioxide.

This leaves three viable explanations.

TRAPPIST-1 d ould have an extremely thin atmosphere that is difficult to detect, somewhat like Mars.

Alternatively, it could have very thick, high-altitude #clouds that are blocking our detection of specific atmospheric signatures — something more like Venus.

Or, it could be a barren rock, with no atmosphere at all.

#astronomy #exoplanets
https://astrobiology.com/2025/09/there-is-no-earth-like-atmosphere-on-trappist-1-d.html

#NASA Researchers Show How #Ceres Could Have Once Been #Habitable

https://www.universetoday.com/articles/nasa-researchers-show-how-ceres-could-have-once-been-habitable