It is my hope that within my lifetime we’ll learn how common it is for life to exist, however temporarily, on worlds with the required ingredients: nutrients, a solvent, and a thermal gradient. New research, unfortunately, is showing us that all naturally occurring environments may be only temporary. 

Here on Earth, our atmosphere and life within are protected by our world’s strong magnetic field. New research published in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society and led by Dimitri Veras finds that the stellar winds of dying stars are sufficiently powerful to blow through those protective magnetic fields and destroy the worlds beneath. This means that while planets around white dwarfs may have the conditions for life, any life that exists will need to have formed after the white dwarf or will need to find a way to survive the formation of the white dwarf somewhere safely inside the planet.

More Information

NAM press release

Planetary shields will buckle under stellar winds from their dying stars (EurekAlert)