| Article | |
| Report number | astro-ph/0401024 |
| Title | The Galactic Habitable Zone and the Age Distribution of Complex Life in the Milky Way |
| Author(s) | Lineweaver, C H ; Fenner, Y ; Gibson, B K |
| Affiliation | (Macquarie University,) ; (Swinburne University) ; (UNSW,) |
| Imprint | 5 Jan 2004. - 9 p. |
| Series | (Ettore Majorana Int. Sci. Ser. Phys. Sci.) |
| In: | Science 303 (2004) 59-62 |
| Subject category | Astrophysics and Astronomy |
| Abstract | We modeled the evolution of the Milky Way 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. |
Corresponding record in: Inspire
Email contact: yfenner@astro.swin.edu.au
Record created 2004-01-07, last modified 2017-06-24
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