Star search
The Value of F's
Oft-overlooked class of stars may have potential to sustain life
Despite their massive size and hot temps, F-type stars could harbor life.
In the search for other habitable planets, one scientist thinks we should leave no stone—or star—unturned.
Typically, researchers looking for habitable planets focus on stars that are abundant, small, and cool. That disqualifies F-type stars, which are more massive and hotter than our sun. (Stars fall into seven lettered categories according to their surface temperatures, though that’s not all that distinguishes them.) It’s widely assumed that the increased ultraviolet radiation of F-type stars makes sustaining life in their planetary environments difficult. Plus, there just aren’t very many of them.
But physics Professor Manfred Cuntz thinks there is some potential.
“F-type stars are not hopeless,” he says. “There is a gap in attention from the scientific community when it comes to knowledge about these stars, and that is what our research is working to fill.”
Dr. Cuntz, then-Ph.D. student Satoko Sato, and their collaborators from the University of Guanajuato argue that since F-type stars have a wider habitable zone—the area where conditions are right for general Earth-type planets to develop and sustain life—they warrant additional consideration. In fact, the researchers found that, in several cases, the potential damage from ultraviolet radiation inflicted on the carbon-based macromolecules necessary for life was similar to—or even lower than—that on Earth.
PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY BRIAN CHRISTENSEN/CORBIS