Under a crimson sun: prospects for life in a red dwarf system

Product Description

This book offers an insight into the habitability of planets, including Earth, and how this changes as time progresses and the central star evolves. It examines life in all its complexity on a tidally locked super-Earth called Gliese 581 d.

Review

From the book reviews:
“It is a thought-provoking book, that provides information about modern research into exoplanets and super-Earths in particular, as well as entertaining science-writing, making this book an excellent choice for some additional reading for students and also showing how life might be totally different somewhere else and not similar at all to what we know here on Earth.” (Kadri Tinn, AstroMadness.com, August, 2014)

From the Author

I was interested in red dwarfs for some considerable time before I wrote this book. I'd been inspired by work done by Greg Laughlin, Peter Bodenheim and Fred Adams in the mid to late 1990s which filled in a long-standing scientific gap on how these stars evolved. Around the same time exoplanetary systems began to be found and the field began opening out with considerable interest in the possibility that red dwarfs might host habitable worlds. Despite an initial dearth of suitable discoveries, a growing number of systems were pulled out that could (potentially) contain habitable planets. None of these was perfect, but within that, there was clearly scope for writing a book on these that would at least draw the readers attention to the universe's most parsimonious but numerous stellar inhabitants.
Under a Crimson Sun was quite a tricky book to write as addressing the question of habitability requires so much more than simply writing about red dwarfs. My background in Biology was fundamental, but so was my interest in rocks (some, but not all I should add...). Bringing these areas together with Astronomy and also Meteorology (another hobby) was, therefore, both a challenge and highly rewarding.
There are a few leaps of faith in Under a Crimson Sun. One area in particular is climate. Models of potentially habitable worlds tend to show a fairly bland circulation from light to dark hemispheres and back again. I had to consider whether this was all that there could be, or whether this could be more complex, driven in part by the nature of the planetary surface. What I came up with was justifiable, but definitely one from my imagination. But I hope that this is a good thing and serves as an area for further consideration.
I've had some really positive reviews and one area I wanted to comment on was the lack of a bibliography. This was a tricky one. I certainly considered doing this, but the decision not to was cosmetic. I was a little unsure whether adding a chapter by chapter bibliography might make the book appear too academic. However, should this come up for a second edition, I'll talk it over with Springer and see if this is merited.

From the Back Cover

Gliese 581 is a red dwarf star some 20.3 light years from Earth. Red dwarfs are among the most numerous stars in the galaxy, and they sport diverse planetary systems. At magnitude 10, Gliese 581 is visible to amateur observers but does not stand out. So what makes this star so important? It is that professional observers have confirmed that it has at least four planets orbiting it, and in 2009, Planet d was described in the letters of The Astrophysical Journal as “the first confirmed exoplanet that could support Earth-like life.”

Under a Crimson Sun looks at the nature of red dwarf systems such as Gliese as potential homes for life.

Realistically, what are prospects for life on these distant worlds? Could life evolve and survive there? How do these planetary surfaces and geology evolve? How would life on a red dwarf planet differ from life on Earth? And what are the implications for finding further habitable worlds in our galaxy?

Stevenson provides readers with insight into the habitability of planets and how this changes as time progresses and the central star