from what they are - how many of them
are in the universe and more join me as
we explore what red dwarf stars are if
you want to look at the night sky you'd
see a bunch of stars but from where you
are you might not be able to see that
there are actually all different kinds
of stars in the sky and yet you can only
see certain types via the amount of
light they produce yet what might
surprise you is that the most populous
of these stars are the ones that don't
have a lot of light but have a lot of
life these are known as red dwarf stars
to be clear though if you try and give a
red dwarf star a definitive definition
you're doing yourself a disservice as
red dwarf star is more of a title than a
classification there is no true
definition of red dwarf astronomer
mikhail Gilly l of the university of
leisure in belgium told space.com by
email she'll yahoo studies stellar
objects at the cooler end of the
spectrum was part of the team that
identified the ultra cool star Trappist
one red dwarf generally refers to dwarf
stars with a spectral type ranging from
k5v to m5v
Gilliam said oh and in case you were
wondering about the long life aspect of
things because of the variety of rent
orfs and how they're composed for the
most part they are indeed the longest
lasting stars in the universe to the
extent that if you were to make a model
of the universe in its last days more
than likely the last star to survive
would be a red dwarf pretty cool huh
but let's back up a bit shall we let's
start looking at the red dwarfs at their
most basic of elements starting with how
many of them are there in the sky above
well of the known universe we believe
that about 70% of all stars in the sky
are red dwarf stars that's right if you
take all the other kinds of stars
including our own Sun which is a yellow
door star and combine them you only get
30% of the stars in the universe bet you
didn't see that coming
what you also likely didn't see coming
is that they are the smallest kinds of
stars in the galaxy brown dwarfs for the
record
are smaller by they themselves aren't
called stars because of their size so
70% of the universe is made up of really
tiny stars that you likely aren't seeing
when you look up at night but just how
small are they well if you compare them
to our own Sun they can range anywhere
from about 50 percent of its mass all
the way down to about 7 percent of its
mass that's another reason why a red
dwarf star isn't describing a singular
type of star because the range of sizes
it includes covers a lot of ground and
remember that line about likely not
seeing them in the night sky while you
honestly haven't seen one in the night
sky without the aid of a telescope or
other special device as the red dwarf
star type is known for being very dim in
its light output so much so that it's
impossible to see it at night with the
naked eye furthermore despite having all
sorts of probes satellites telescopes
and other space churning technology we
can only see red dwarf stars within a
certain range of earth to that end we
know that there are around 20 to 30 red
dwarf stars within our immediate area
obviously that means outside of our
solar system but still that's a good
amount of them and again they are the
longest lasting stars in the universe
but how is that possible that would be
because of the way they create their
heat and light if you observe most stars
of the non red dwarf variety you'll see
that they are constantly making gases
via nuclear fusion reactions they
transform hydrogen into helium and burn
it to become the bright balls in the sky
red dwarfs technically do that but in a
more roundabout manner mainly instead of
instant reactions they go and do
convection heating meaning that the
hydrogen and helium mix around on a loop
allowing the gases to burn much slower
the lifespan of the star depends on the
burning of its gases most stars last
billions of years because of their
fusion reactions but with red dwarf
stars because they burn so slowly they
can last anywhere from 1 trillion to 10
trillion years based on our
understanding of its composition if you
keep track of how old the universe is
that means that every single red dwarf
star that was born when it was created
roughly 13 plus billion years ago if you
believe in the big
theory at least is still around outside
of interference from other stars black
holes etcetera and those same stars will
be around long after humanity and
possibly all other life in the universe
has died out it's a depressing thought
but it shows once again just how long
these stars can last before we dive even
deeper into what red dwarf stars are be
sure to LIKE the video and subscribe to
the channel that way you don't miss any
of our weekly videos so let's ask
ourselves the big question here okay
could we possibly live on a planet that
circles a red dwarf star I mean we know
there are planets that are orbiting red
dwarfs we found more than you might
think and some of them have even been
confirmed to be kind of a rocky planet
meaning that they have a solid surface
and aren't just a gas giant by that
token if certain factors line up our way
we could totally live on that planet
around the star right well maybe but
let's just say that not unlike earth we
need a lot of things to go our way in
order to make things work as noted red
dwarfs don't have the mass of our own
Sun which in many ways is the perfect
Sun for earth to be around in orbiting
and because it doesn't produce as much
heat or light as it burns nearly 2,000
degrees Kelvin cooler than our own Sun
that means there are a few issues we'd
have to deal with right off the bat
we'd have to be really close to the red
dwarf star in order to even attempt to
live around it mo scientists speculate
that because of the output of heat and
light that they'd likely have to be
around the distance of mercury from our
own Sun in order to live there and get
what we need from the red dwarf
if you don't know Mercury's abnormal
orbit around the Sun means that it can
be anywhere from twenty-eight million
miles away to 43 million miles away but
let's just shoot for the middle and say
that our new home would have to be about
thirty-five million miles away from the
star that's 60 million miles closer than
Earth is from our Sun right now and that
would raise a few issues what's the
first problem that would be position of
the planet not in terms of orbiting the
star we already figured that out but
because of its proximity just like
mercury the planet we would go to would
likely be tidally locked to be tidally
long to me
that the planet would be literally cut
in half in terms of exposure to the heat
in light nine times out of ten a tidally
locked planet is burning hot on one side
of the planet and then freezing cold on
the other because of the lack of
exposure on one side and the
overexposure on the other this causes
some really extreme planets and
obviously that would make living on set
planet
nearly impossible that being said there
are those who believe that if done
correctly the planet that orbits a
planet this way with a large enough
ocean maybe even something like Earth is
now could distribute that over exposure
of heat and allow us to be able to live
on the planet in a more sustainable way
but again that's just a belief a theory
it's obviously not been proven because
we haven't found a planet that has done
it yet here's another problem yes there
are many more problems to talk about
because of the distance from the planet
to the star there's a chance that the
red dwarfs gravity would start to
constrict the planet in such a way that
it would shrink this is actually
something going on with Mercury right
now as it shrinks every year it's around
the Sun why does that matter
that would be because if you shrink
something down it gets more compacted
and that can make things even hotter via
its core temperature if that happens
enough then the oceans temperature will
start to rise and when that happens
enough that would mean that the oceans
will boil then evaporate and then be
gone and when that happens the planet
will basically turn into Venus if you
recall Venus is a greenhouse effect
planet that is so hot that its surface
is many hundreds of degrees and is
capable of melting most metals that try
and land on it obviously this is a no-go
in terms of a planet that we hope to
live on think we're done with the
problems nope we still got one major one
to talk about and it's one that we've
mentioned before variety as noted
earlier red dwarfs come in a variety of
shapes and sizes from ones that are
really small to ones that are about 50%
of the Sun we have because of this it's
really hard to say whether living near a
red dwarf is possible because there are
a ton of them and they don't act the
same or even look the same at times what
do I mean by that well there are certain
kinds of red dwarfs
stars that have spots on them think of
it like the Red Spot on Jupiter that is
a defining feature of the planet on a
red dwarf these spots which are usually
black can help dim the Stars output of
light in heat hurting the planet that is
potentially being given life by it or
the red dwarf can have events known as
solar flares which can ravage a planet
if they get too hot
think about mercury and even if there
was an atmosphere around the planet the
proximity of the planet to the star
would ensure that the atmosphere would
be obliterated with all life on it
following soon after so given all of
that life on a planet near the red dwarf
would be very tenuous not impossible but
it would be a very long shot to find the
right amount of circumstances to make it
work then again that sounds like Earth
so maybe it's not as impossible as we
think especially when you consider that
because there are so many red dwarf
stars in the universe and that there are
plenty of moons planets and more
circling them
it might just be a matter of time before
we find something that we like to give
you a round number it's believed that
there are about 60 billion bodies
between rocky moons and planets circling
red dwarf stars just in the Milky Way
right now and if we were to find one
that is the perfect set of conditions we
could stay there likely until the end of
time so long as it's between one to ten
trillion years which given how old the
universe works that's a pretty safe bet
that we can live before the end of time
happens now obviously this isn't a case
where we can just find the planet and/or
moon around a red dwarf and say hey
let's go now while beginning is good
because we can barely leave Earth right
now with a few people on a craft let
alone spaceships that can hold hundreds
thousands or even millions of people we
still need to work out the traveling at
warp speed engage in order to reach some
of these dwarf stars and that's for the
ones that are just relatively close to
us imagine if this potential habitable
planet was one that is on the other side
of the Milky Way galaxy think of all the
distance we'd need to travel in order to
make that work this isn't meant to
depress you rather it's meant to show
you that it's going to be a while before
we can even think of moving to a planet
or moon around a red dwarf star not that
this is a bad thing because we know that
the star is going to be waiting for us
while we try and get there and that is
something to take cover in so to close
what can we truly say about red dwarf
stars they aren't the brightest of the
bunch or the most powerful and unless
you know where to look and how to find
them you're not going to see one outside
of books pictures and cool YouTube
videos like ours but they are out there
and they're waiting for us to find one
that has the circumstances for us to
live near them one day plus when the
universe dies out likely many trillions
of years from now it'll be the red dwarf
stars that are there to be the last
light that goes out thanks for watching
everyone what did you think of this look
at the red dwarf stars and why they
matter to the universe as a whole did
you know this much about this kind of
star before coming here do you think
that eventually humanity or another race
will be residing around a red dwarf star
let me know in the comments below be
sure to subscribe and I'll see you next
time on the channel