SEEC - Research - Stars and Space Weather
planet on a black background orbiting a star.

Stars and Space Weather

Nearly all the energy we use to power human life on Earth comes from the Sun. We harness the Sun to power solar panels. We also burn fossil fuels made of ancient plants that relied on photosynthesis to live, and made of animals that ate those plants. We think that if there is life in other planetary systems it could also be highly reliant upon its star, or its sun. But stars are not always good for life. They spew intense and frequent stellar flares that strip the atmospheres off planets, leaving behind barren rocks. Earth’s magnetic field protects it from the worst of the Sun’s outbursts; the aurora borealis is the only obvious marker of the dangers we avoided. Are Earth-like exoplanets also protected from their stars? SEEC researchers are working to better understand the stars of extrasolar systems and the physics that drive magnetic dynamos in the deep interiors of exoplanets.


Impact of Extreme Space Weather on Climates of Terrestrial-Type Exoplanets

Investigators: Michael Way, Vladimir Airapetian, Guillaume Gronoff


Investigating Impacts of Stellar Wind and XUV Emission on Atmospheric Loss

Investigators: Alison Farrish, Katherine Garcia-Sage, Sarah Peacock


PHOENIX EUV Grid and Stellar Ultraviolet Spectra (PEGASUS) Webtool

Investigators: Sarah Peacock, Allison Youngblood, Michael Moore


Improving ultraviolet studies of atmospheric escape from sub-Neptune planets

Investigators: Keighley Rockcliffe, Allison Youngblood


Modeling Near IR (NIR) Auroral Emission from a mini-Neptune Around Young Solar Analog DS Tuc A in Preparation for JWST

Investigators: Vlad Airapetian, Avi Mandell, Suk-Bin Kang, Laura Vega