Scientists have studied several stars similar to the Sun and found out which stars are most likely to have advanced extraterrestrial civilizations. The results of the study were published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters Phys.
Scientists first discovered a planet orbiting a Sun-like star called 51 Pegasus in 1995. Now scientists have published new observations of this star, which suggest that the current magnetic environment around the star may be particularly favorable for the development of complex life.
When stars like the Sun appear, they rotate very quickly around their axis. As a result, a strong magnetic field is formed, which leads to the fact that neighboring planets are constantly bombarded with charged particles and streams of harmful radiation. But over billions of years, the star's rotation gradually slows down, and this is called magnetic deceleration. The slower a star rotates, the weaker its magnetic field. Magnetic braking was previously thought to last indefinitely, but a new study casts doubt on that assumption.
The authors of the study say that the rotation and magnetism of old stars, such as the Sun, change after they have lived nearly half of their lives. These results have important implications for stars with planetary systems and the potential for advanced civilizations to arise on these planets. The fact is that the weaker magnetic braking does not allow a strong eruption to appear on the stars, which has a more favorable effect on their planets.
Previous observations have already suggested that magnetic braking may weaken significantly after stars reach the age of the Sun, i.e. 4,5 billion years. But now scientists have been able to find clear evidence of this when studying the star 51 Pegasus and other stars similar to the Sun.
Observations have shown that the magnetic braking suddenly changes in stars that are slightly younger than the Sun, and it weakens by a factor of about 10 after about 4 billion years of the star's existence. Scientists have found that the star 51 Pegasus, like the Sun, has already gone through a transition period to weakened magnetic braking.
On Earth, the transition of living organisms from oceans to land occurred several hundred million years ago, which coincided with the time when the magnetic braking on the Sun began to weaken. Young stars bombard their planets with radiation and charged particles that hinder the development of complex life, but older stars appear to provide a more favorable environment for it.
According to scientists, the study shows that the best place to look for life, especially highly advanced life, outside our solar system is planets orbiting old and middle-aged stars.
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