Description
What stars are near the Sun? Now that we have some idea of what we are
looking for - rocky planets in the habitable zones of low-mass
main-sequence stars - what are the prospects near the Sun? This lecture
examines the hunting ground for planets, the nearby stars that make up
the Solar Neighborhood. I will describe our nearest neighbor, the
Proxima Centauri/Alpha Centauri triple system, and then look at the
properties of our nearest stellar neighbors. What we will find is that
G-type stars like the Sun are uncommon, only about 7% of all nearby
main-sequence stars. Red dwarfs, on the other hand, are very common,
about 75%. To find Sun-like main sequence stars, we will have to extend
our search to larger distances into our Milky Way galaxy proper.
Recorded live on 2009 Nov 16 in Room 1005 Smith Laboratory on the
Columbus campus of The Ohio State University.
Course finale and summary. We look back over where we've been the last
eleven weeks, and bring together all of the main themes of this course
on Life in the Universe. Recorded live on 2009 Dec 4 in Room 1005 Smith
Laboratory on the Columbus campus of The Ohio State University.
Published 12/04/09
How will life, the Universe, and everything end? This lecture looks at
the evolution of our expanding Universe to project the prospects for
life into the distant cosmological future. Recent observations show
that we live in an infinite, accelerating universe. I will trace the
evolution of the...
Published 12/03/09