Sunspots help understand life around other stars

Description

Context: A new study published in The Astrophysical Journal has shown how sunspots - which are relatively cooler and darker patches on the Sun - can help us understand more about conditions for life on exoplanets, planets that are outside the solar system.

More about the study

High-resolution data of the Sun from NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory and JAXA/NASA’s Hinode mission was used for the study.
Different layers of the Sun studied using 14 different wavelengths including visible, ultraviolet (UV), and X-rays.

Sunspots

Sunspots are precursors to solar flares.
Monitoring them can help decode how and why flares occur.
On young stars, superflares happen almost daily, whereas, on more mature ones like our Sun, they may occur once in 1,000 years.
A few flares may help in building RNA and DNA on planets whereas too many strong flares can damage the atmosphere, thus turning the planet uninhabitable.
Studying stellar activity could also help explain the beginning of life on Earth four billion years ago.

https://www.thehindu.com/sci-tech/science/sunspots-help-understand-life-around-other-stars/article32826361.ece?homepage=true