T H E U N I V E R S E

Temperature (light colors are hotter, dark are cooler) in a simulation of Proxima Centauri, the closest star to the Sun, which is known to host at least one planet. Compared to the Sun, this star has 12% the mass, 15% the radius, 36 times the average density, and about half the surface temperature. This image shows that the surface convection is very different than the Sun’s iconic granulation pattern. Irina Kitiashvili,

NASA/Ames

Simulated velocity direction and magnitude, with brown being fastest and dark blue slowest, for the near-surface region of a star 47% heavier than the Sun and rotating much faster than the Sun—in 1 day rather than 27. The upper image shows conditions at 30° latitude and the lower at 0° latitude (the equator). Velocities near the equator are shown to be much more intense than at higher latitudes. Irina Kitiashvili, Tim Sandstrom,

NASA/Ames

Alan Wray, NASA Ames Research CenterIrina Kitiashvili, NASA Ames Research Center

NASA’s search for habitable Earth-like planets in the universe, through the Kepler and TESS missions, has discovered thousands of candidate and confirmed planets orbiting other stars. However, many of these planets orbit stars very different from our Sun. To determine if a candidate planet might be Earth-like and habitable, it is necessary to consider the properties of the star that it orbits. Many planet-hosting stars are heavier or lighter than the Sun, are brighter or dimmer, spin faster or slower, or have different ele-mental compositions. Through numerical simulations run on NASA’s Pleiades supercomputer, many of the key properties of such stars can be estimated, giving us quantitative data about the possibility of life on these other worlds.

SCIENCE MISSION DIRECTORATE

To Find Other Earths, We Need to Understand Other Suns