Small and cool they may be, but red dwarfs, the most common kind of stars, are more likely to support life than we thought. Far-off icy planets that orbit these stars could still be warm enough to contain liquid water because of the way snow and ice absorb their near-infrared light.
Alien-hunting astronomers tend to look for planets in the "habitable zone", the range of distances from a star where temperatures are balmy enough for water to be in liquid form but not so hot that it boils off.
Red dwarfs are cooler than stars like our sun, so their habitable zones were thought to be smaller. This should make any planet's gravitational tugs on the star stronger and habitable worlds easier to spot - if there are any. Red dwarfs tend to flare up, scorching any nearby planets. Those far enough away to be safe, meanwhile, could be too cold.
Now, climate scientist Manoj Joshi of the University of Reading, UK, and Robert Haberle of NASA's Ames Research Centre in California have discovered how red dwarfs could warm far-off planets.
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