Re: Prometheus, Continued
This is exciting news. Because red dwarfs are so faint, their habitable zones are extremely narrow and close to the star. The result that so many of these planets were found within those zones is really astonishing, but good news for SETI weenies.
A habitable zone planet near a red dwarf would be so close to the star its rotation would probably be tidally locked, and red dwarfs have a tendency to be flare stars, but I think life could adapt to these conditions. The sheer ubiquity of red dwarfs in the galactic population means the number of potentially life-bearing worlds has jumped up an order of magnitude.