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- Title
The galactic habitable zone and the age distribution of complex life in the Milky Way.
- Authors
Lineweaver, Charles H; Fenner, Yeshe; Gibson, Brad K
- Abstract
We modeled 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 identified 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 found that 75% of the stars in the GHZ are older than the Sun.
- Publication
Science (New York, N.Y.), 2004, Vol 303, Issue 5654, p59
- ISSN
1095-9203
- Publication type
Journal Article
- DOI
10.1126/science.1092322