London, Dec 11: A new study has suggested that large and distant ocean worlds could provide a last refuge for life around Sun-like stars, long after the heat of the stars’ red giant phase sterilizes closer-in, Earth-like planets.
According to a report in New Scientist, the study was led by Werner von Bloh of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research in Germany.
Stars similar in mass to the Sun swell to become red giants at the end of their lives, engulfing their inner planets and roasting slightly more distant ones.
The Sun itself is scheduled to enter this phase around 5 billion years from now, which should bake to death any remaining life here even before the planet is swallowed up altogether.