What can star variability—changes in a star’s brightness over time—teach astronomers about exoplanet habitability? This is what a recent study accepted to The Astronomical Journal hopes to address as a team of scientists investigated the interaction between a star’s activity and exoplanetary atmospheres. This study has the potential to help astronomers better understand how star variability plays a role in finding habitable exoplanets, specifically around stars that are different from our Sun.

A mysterious link emerges.

Young stars buried deep in molecular clouds are bathed in ultraviolet radiation, but they shouldn't be. Protostars are too cold and dim to produce UV light themselves, yet James Webb Space Telescope observations of five stellar nurseries in Ophiuchus reveal its unmistakable signature affecting the surrounding gas. Astronomers tested the obvious explanation that nearby massive stars illuminate these birthplaces but subsequently ruled it out. The UV radiation must be coming from inside the star forming regions themselves, forcing a fundamental rethink of how stars are born.

What is the importance of studying explosive volcanism on Venus? This is what a recent study published in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets hopes to address as a team of scientists investigated the potential altitudes of explosive volcanism on Venus. This study has the potential to help scientists better understand the present volcanic activity on Venus, along with gaining insight about its formation and evolution and other planetary bodies throughout the solar system and beyond.

Ugh, your mom was right.