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'While some astronomers continue to focus on M dwarfs, others still want to target sun-like stars. For now, researchers are poised to learn more about M-dwarf systems, Muirhead says. With the Kepler mission winding down, astronomers are looking forward to the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite, which is scheduled to launch in 2017. TESS will focus on finding planets around brighter stars, including many M dwarfs. The James Webb Space Telescope, NASA’s successor to Hubble that’s slated for launch in 2018, will then be able to target some of those planets and even analyze their atmospheres. But, Muirhead says, the telescope will only be able to do that for planets around M dwarfs. To target planets around sun-like stars, he says, there will need to be new missions.

Inevitably, resources will become limited, forcing astronomers to choose between focusing their hunt on M dwarfs or sun-like stars, Muirhead says. The decision will depend on what they find in the next few years.'

'But some particles and magnetic plasma do enter the Earth’s atmosphere if the storm is strong enough. When this happens, magnetic displays such as the northern lights become visible in places further south than where such displays are normally visible.

“Aurora [a natural light display] tells us about the properties of these coronal mass ejections,” Muirhead said. “Unfortunately, the aurora is difficult to see when you have a lot of light pollution, so I don’t know of anyone that was able to see it in the city of Boston.”

The recent storm did produce some low-latitude aurora, Semeter said. Although BU students couldn’t observe this vibrant display, inhabitants of western and northern Massachusetts could.

“Not so much right over Boston, but a little bit north over Acadia National Park [in Maine] and so forth, there were some really nice auroral displays,” Semeter said.'