Sun-like stars produce superflares roughly once per century.

Stellar superflares are energetic outbursts of electromagnetic radiation that are similar to solar flares but release more energy, up to 10 erg on main-sequence stars. It is unknown whether the Sun can generate superflares and, if so, how often they might occur. We used photometry from the Kepler space observatory to investigate superflares on other stars with Sun-like fundamental parameters.

Metal-rich stars are less suitable for the evolution of life on their planets.

Atmospheric ozone and oxygen protect the terrestrial biosphere against harmful ultraviolet (UV) radiation. Here, we model atmospheres of Earth-like planets hosted by stars with near-solar effective temperatures (5300 to 6300 K) and a broad range of metallicities covering known exoplanet host stars. We show that paradoxically, although metal-rich stars emit substantially less ultraviolet radiation than metal-poor stars, the surface of their planets is exposed to more intense ultraviolet radiation.

The Sun is less active than other solar-like stars.

The magnetic activity of the Sun and other stars causes their brightness to vary. We investigated how typical the Sun's variability is compared with other solar-like stars, i.e.