Article - The growing habitable zone: Locations for life abound

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Jason H. - 14 Feb 2006 04:27 GMT

Article - The growing habitable zone: Locations for life abound - Ker
Than, Space.com

http://www.usatoday.com/tech/science/space/2006-02-07-life-universe_x.htm?POE=TECISVA

The article reviews how many scientists are finally coming around to
the formerly-heretical concept that life might be found around
other-than-sun-like stars.

(Speaking of heresy, why limit oneself to looking around stars anyway?
I can't wait for them to come around to looking for free-worlds!
Calculations show a very large percentage of planets may be ejected
from their parent star systems. And perhaps finding E.T. technology on
them is much easier without the noise of a parent star, and perhaps
they're closer than we imagined! That reminds me of one of my favorite
speculative sci.astro.seti threads from the year 2000 titled "Life on
Giant Planets"; good times, good times! :^)

Fathoming the greatest enigma, Jason H.

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Jason H. - 14 Feb 2006 05:10 GMT

I wrote

>(Speaking of heresy, why limit oneself to looking around stars anyway?
>I can't wait for them to come around to looking for free-worlds!
>Calculations show a very large percentage of planets may be ejected
>from their parent star systems. And perhaps finding E.T. technology on
>them is much easier without the noise of a parent star, and perhaps
>they're closer than we imagined!

Of course SETI@home seems to be doing this already; I'm just saying
that perhaps the idea of habitable zones and "targeted search" are
perhaps too strong constraints given the limits of our sensitivity.
And since we cannot see most red dwarf stars (or free worlds),
non-targeted seems (IMO) to have better odds (targeted has its merits,
but once you exhaust the candidate list on the Allen Array, what are
you going to do? Extend the linger times? Re-visit old targets?)

(BTW - I do like the SETI Institute (a vanguard of SETI) and the Allen
Array, I used to be a TeamSETI member, before I decided to put my
nickel into my own insignificant telescopes/projects. My home-made,
but professional-looking, license plate frame on the back of my car
reads "VISIT SETI.ORG"; the SETI-Institute bumper sticker I had on my
back window dried up years ago :^(

Promote THE search. Jason H.

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Space Forum / SETI / February 2006

Article - The growing habitable zone: Locations for life abound