Knowra Red dwarf Red dwarf A red dwarf is a small, cool, low-mass star that fuses hydrogen slowly in its core. Its low fuel consumption lets it shine for exceptionally long times.
Stellar structure : The internal arrangement and physical balance of a star, including its core, energy transport, and outer layers. A red dwarf’s small mass produces a compact structure and relatively cool surface.
Proxima Centauri : The nearest known star to the Sun, a red dwarf about 4.24 light-years away. It is the closest example of a red dwarf and hosts a known exoplanet.
Yellow dwarf : An informal name for a main-sequence star of spectral type G, including the Sun. Yellow dwarfs are hotter and more luminous than red dwarfs.
Tidal locking : A state in which an orbiting body's rotation period equals its orbital period, keeping one side facing its companion. Close-in planets in a red dwarf’s habitable zone may become tidally locked.
Annie Jump Cannon : An American astronomer who developed a widely adopted system for classifying stellar spectra. Her spectral classification work helped establish the system used to identify red dwarfs.
Proton–proton chain : A sequence of nuclear reactions that fuses hydrogen into helium, releasing energy in Sun-like stars. This reaction sequence supplies the energy radiated by red dwarfs.
TRAPPIST-1 : An ultracool dwarf star about 40 light-years away with seven known roughly Earth-sized planets. Its compact planetary system illustrates how many planets can orbit a small star.
White dwarf : A dense stellar remnant supported against gravity by electron degeneracy pressure. Despite the similar name, a white dwarf is a stellar remnant, not a hydrogen-fusing red dwarf.
Atmospheric escape : The loss of gas from a planet’s atmosphere into space. Flares and energetic radiation from red dwarfs may erode nearby planetary atmospheres.
Harvard spectral classification : A scheme that classifies stars by spectral type, ordered from hot O stars to cool M stars. Most red dwarfs are class M stars in this classification.
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