<story><title>New study dramatically narrows the search for advanced life in the universe</title><url>https://phys.org/news/2019-06-narrows-advanced-life-universe.html</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>papito</author><text>Most of the Universe is uninhabitable. People keep talking about the &amp;quot;Goldilocks Zone&amp;quot; but that is just &lt;i&gt;one&lt;/i&gt; factor.&lt;p&gt;* We are on the outskirts of the Milky Way because the center of the galaxy is radiation hell. A chunk of most galaxies is too &amp;quot;hot&amp;quot; for life. So take most of the SPACE out there and move that to the side.&lt;p&gt;* The planet itself has to be around a star that&amp;#x27;s not too big and not too dim, at the right distance, of course.&lt;p&gt;* Our Solar system is very special as it has the planets in stable, almost circular orbits around a SINGLE star. It&amp;#x27;s not &amp;quot;collision central&amp;quot;, where most planets can still smash into each other, within a binary star system, to boot.&lt;p&gt;* We have gas giants, by chance, protecting us against space rocks flying into us.&lt;p&gt;* The Moon, just the right size, just the right distance, to keep us in stable rotation, with seasons.&lt;p&gt;* Just the right amount of water. Too much or too little water, and we would not be here.&lt;p&gt;* I am probably missing a bunch...&lt;p&gt;* And only then you get to the rest of the factors for life to be possible.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>godson_drafty</author><text>* an iron core that produces a magnetic field surrounding the planet, which allows the atmosphere to remain in place, rather than being blasted off the planet by solar winds.</text></comment>
<story><title>New study dramatically narrows the search for advanced life in the universe</title><url>https://phys.org/news/2019-06-narrows-advanced-life-universe.html</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>papito</author><text>Most of the Universe is uninhabitable. People keep talking about the &amp;quot;Goldilocks Zone&amp;quot; but that is just &lt;i&gt;one&lt;/i&gt; factor.&lt;p&gt;* We are on the outskirts of the Milky Way because the center of the galaxy is radiation hell. A chunk of most galaxies is too &amp;quot;hot&amp;quot; for life. So take most of the SPACE out there and move that to the side.&lt;p&gt;* The planet itself has to be around a star that&amp;#x27;s not too big and not too dim, at the right distance, of course.&lt;p&gt;* Our Solar system is very special as it has the planets in stable, almost circular orbits around a SINGLE star. It&amp;#x27;s not &amp;quot;collision central&amp;quot;, where most planets can still smash into each other, within a binary star system, to boot.&lt;p&gt;* We have gas giants, by chance, protecting us against space rocks flying into us.&lt;p&gt;* The Moon, just the right size, just the right distance, to keep us in stable rotation, with seasons.&lt;p&gt;* Just the right amount of water. Too much or too little water, and we would not be here.&lt;p&gt;* I am probably missing a bunch...&lt;p&gt;* And only then you get to the rest of the factors for life to be possible.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>cheschire</author><text>And timing! With humans only being 150,000 to 200,000 years old, and really only intelligently processing input from the stars for less than a century, we&amp;#x27;re basically talking about two people trying to wave at each other from airplanes that aren&amp;#x27;t even flying over the same country.</text></comment>