The Galactic Habitable Zone and the Age Distribution of Complex Life in the Milky Way

Details The Galactic Habitable Zone and the Age Distribution of Complex Life in the Milky Way The Galactic Habitable Zone and the Age Distribution of Complex Life in the Milky Way

Dec 2003

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2003aas...20313607l&link_type=abstract

American Astronomical Society Meeting 203, #136.07; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 36, p.583

Mathematics

Logic

Scientific paper

We model the evolution of the Milky Way Galaxy to trace the distribution in space and time of four prerequisites for complex life: the presence of a host star, enough heavy elements to form terrestrial planets, sufficient time for biological evolution and an environment free of life-extinguishing supernovae. We identify the Galactic habitable zone (GHZ) as an annular region between 7 and 9 kiloparsecs from the Galactic center that widens with time and is composed of stars that formed between 8 and 4 billion years ago. This GHZ yields an age distribution for the complex life that may inhabit our Galaxy. We find that 75% of the stars in the GHZ are older than the Sun.
We acknowledge the Australian Research Council for support.

Affiliated with

Also associated with

No associations

Rating

The Galactic Habitable Zone and the Age Distribution of Complex Life in the Milky Way does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this scientific paper.

If you have personal experience with The Galactic Habitable Zone and the Age Distribution of Complex Life in the Milky Way, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and The Galactic Habitable Zone and the Age Distribution of Complex Life in the Milky Way will most certainly appreciate the feedback.

Rate now

Comments { 0 }

Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-1423643