Correction on Red Dwarf Lifespans

Yesterday’s post “On Red Dwarf Stars and the Hunt for Life” incorrectly stated the lifespan of an M-class red dwarf star as 100 times that of the Sun. The correct figure is ten times as long, making an age limit of perhaps 100 billion years for the average red dwarf. G-class stars like the Sun are expected to live about ten billion years. The red dwarf Gliese 876 is about 11 billion years old, more than twice the age of the Sun.