lughnasadh OP t1_iu1jcgs wrote on October 27, 2022 at 9:25 PM

Reply to comment by feelingbutter in Astronomers have outlined how the JWST may be able to detect the biosignatures of extraterrestrial life in Earth sized planets orbiting the 15 nearest White Dwarf stars. by lughnasadh

>>I would think that planets around white dwarfs would have had a bad time when those stars became white dwarfs.

True, but they remain stable (albeit much cooler/smaller) for billions of years afterwards. I assume they are looking for life that might have evolved after the star's red giant phase.

Aanar t1_iu68upt wrote on October 28, 2022 at 9:26 PM

Wouldn't the orbits of any planets that would be in the habitable zone of a white dwarf had been within the radius of it during it's red giant phase? That would leave only the native planets that somehow migrated inward or where captured from elsewhere.