Free Astronomy Magazine January-February 2015

4 JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2015 ASTROBIOLOGY The most promising scenarios in which to search for life beyond our solar system may turn out to be very disap- pointing. Recent simulations do in fact indicate that in the habitable zones of red dwarfs there would almost exclusi- vely be planets rendered uninhabitable by the exuberance characterizing these stars at the end of their formation. Red dwarfs and life: the downside