A guide to “habital zones” in the universe
Image Credit: NASA, ESA, and M. Livio and the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)
The SETI Institute is home to incredible scientists dedicated to exploring, understanding and explaining the origin, nature and prevalence of life in the universe. Research is anchored by two centers: the Center for SETI Research, led by TED Prize winner Jill Tarter, and the Carl Sagan Center for the Study of Life in the Universe, led by Dr. Frank Drake. While the former focuses on the finding evidence of other technological civilizations, the later focuses on a wide range of disciplines to answer questions such as how did life start and evolve and how many planets exist which might support life. In the past five decades of SETI’s existence vast technological improvements has pushed all of this research ahead by leaps and bounds.
This month’s Discover magazine discusses the shifting perspective of astrobiology, the study of life in the universe. Astrobiologists are looking into “habitable zones” – regions of space where living things could live and thrive – rather than single locations which might support life.
Adam Frank breaks down this concept into four zones: The Solar System Habitable Zone, The Galactic Habitable Zone, The Temporal Habitable Zone and The Multiverse Habitable Zone. His “Guide to Finding Alien Life” is a must read for everyone interested in what is beyond our own planet.
I love looking at all the neat pictures that are taken from outer space. I don’t like they they say Pluto is no longer a planet, because I always knew it as a planet while I was growing up in elementary.