TY - JOUR
T1 - Metal-rich stars are less suitable for the evolution of life on their planets
AU - Shapiro, Anna V.
AU - Brühl, Christoph
AU - Klingmüller, Klaus
AU - Steil, Benedikt
AU - Shapiro, Alexander I.
AU - Witzke, Veronika
AU - Kostogryz, Nadiia
AU - Gizon, Laurent
AU - Solanki, Sami K.
AU - Lelieveld, Jos
N1 - Funding Information:
A.V.S. and L.G. acknowledge funding from the Max Planck Society (grant “Preparations for PLATO science”). N.K. and L.G. acknowledge funding from the German Aerospace Center (DLR FKZ 50OP1902 “PLATO Data Center”). A.I.S. and V.W. were funded by the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program (Grant no. 715947).
Publisher Copyright:
© 2023, The Author(s).
PY - 2023/12
Y1 - 2023/12
N2 - Atmospheric ozone and oxygen protect the terrestrial biosphere against harmful ultraviolet (UV) radiation. Here, we model atmospheres of Earth-like planets hosted by stars with near-solar effective temperatures (5300 to 6300 K) and a broad range of metallicities covering known exoplanet host stars. We show that paradoxically, although metal-rich stars emit substantially less ultraviolet radiation than metal-poor stars, the surface of their planets is exposed to more intense ultraviolet radiation. For the stellar types considered, metallicity has a larger impact than stellar temperature. During the evolution of the universe, newly formed stars have progressively become more metal-rich, exposing organisms to increasingly intense ultraviolet radiation. Our findings imply that planets hosted by stars with low metallicity are the best targets to search for complex life on land.
AB - Atmospheric ozone and oxygen protect the terrestrial biosphere against harmful ultraviolet (UV) radiation. Here, we model atmospheres of Earth-like planets hosted by stars with near-solar effective temperatures (5300 to 6300 K) and a broad range of metallicities covering known exoplanet host stars. We show that paradoxically, although metal-rich stars emit substantially less ultraviolet radiation than metal-poor stars, the surface of their planets is exposed to more intense ultraviolet radiation. For the stellar types considered, metallicity has a larger impact than stellar temperature. During the evolution of the universe, newly formed stars have progressively become more metal-rich, exposing organisms to increasingly intense ultraviolet radiation. Our findings imply that planets hosted by stars with low metallicity are the best targets to search for complex life on land.
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U2 - 10.1038/s41467-023-37195-4
DO - 10.1038/s41467-023-37195-4
M3 - Article
C2 - 37072387
AN - SCOPUS:85152864033
SN - 2041-1723
VL - 14
JO - Nature communications
JF - Nature communications
IS - 1
M1 - 1893
ER -