How a Massive Database on Stars Will Make It Easier to Explore Alien Worlds

[Judi Lynn]

By Meghan Bartels, Space.com Senior Writer | August 29, 2018 06:54pm ET

Our sun shapes every day of our lives and always has — and if there's life on alien worlds, the same will be true of their stars.

That means that for scientists hoping to determine whether there's life elsewhere in the universe, it's crucial for them to know more about both exoplanets and the stars they orbit. One such scientist hopes that big data will be able to help her and her colleagues narrow down the most plausible homes of life, and she has built a database to coordinate that effort by pulling together information about the different factors that affect how habitable a planet is.

"At first scientists focused on temperatures, looking for exoplanets in the 'Goldilocks zone' — neither too close, nor too far from the star, where liquid water could exist," Natalie Hinkel, a planetary astrophysicist at the Southwest Research Institute, said in a statement issued by the institute. "But the definition of habitability is evolving beyond liquid water and a cozy temperature."

More:
https://www.space.com/41658-hypatia-stellar-chemistry-database-offers-exoplanets.html

[Sherman A1]

1. Cool!

Thanks for posting.

[orangecrush]

2. Denocats

The pro - science party!