English Deutsch Français Italiano Español Português 繁體中文 Bahasa Indonesia Tiếng Việt ภาษาไทย
All categories

massive could a star be and still harbor intelligent life on one of its planets?

2006-07-06 12:49:02 · 8 answers · asked by pam k 1 in Science & Mathematics Astronomy & Space

8 answers

A star must live more than 2 billion years to have intelligent life. And stars more than 2 times as massive as the Sun is just too massive.

2006-07-06 13:00:16 · answer #1 · answered by Science_Guy 4 · 0 0

I think any answer we have are speculative, because we only have our own solar system and earth and our own evolution to use as an example. There is no other for comparison. It maybe possible that it doesn't have to take 5 billion years to evolve intelligence. That just happen to be how long it took us here on earth.

But in general, I think most astronomers will agree that the less massive the star the longer it'll stay stable and on the main sequence. Once you get to several solar masses (i.e. several times the mass of our Sun), fusion reaction will occur much faster due to larger gravitational effects, and thus the life span of the star is drastically reduced.

2006-07-06 12:58:56 · answer #2 · answered by PhysicsDude 7 · 0 0

The generally accepted age minimum for a planetary system with life is three billion years. Stars that have more than 1.4 solar masses will go through their evolution too quickly and burn up their core hydrogen before the necessary amount of time passes. The rate at which a star burns its hydrogen increases proportionately with the mass raised to the power of about 3.5. The heavier stars therefore burn up quicker than the lighter ones do.

However, stars that have less than 0.8 solar masses force rotational tidal locking on the planets in their ergosphere, or liquid water zone. That means those planets have a "day" equal to their "year" and therefore always show the same face to their sun. (Like the moon always shows the same face to the Earth.)

So stars that have habitable planets have a limited range of masses: from 0.8 suns to 1.4 suns.

2006-07-06 14:06:29 · answer #3 · answered by David S 5 · 0 0

There's no single answer to your question, nor has it been determined that 5-billion years is the time frame required for life and intelligence to evolve.

Assuming that the development of life beyond Earth is dependant upon such critical factors as the presence of water, moderate temperatures, an atmosphere, etc., it's the star type that controls these parameters. You should find the interactive applet on this website very interesting in that regard ==> http://www.earth.uni.edu/~morgan/ajjar/Stars/hz.html

2006-07-06 14:23:30 · answer #4 · answered by Chug-a-Lug 7 · 0 0

Intelligence is something we haven't even really defined on our own planet. Almost any star CAN harbor life, and threrefore intelligent life.

2006-07-06 13:42:52 · answer #5 · answered by April C 3 · 0 0

>"it really is what scientist state for the beginnings of existence that advanced existence varieties in people lions giraffe's etc," A teacup? truly? you imagine that the quantity of water in a tea cup is what "scientists state" replaced into sufficient for the beginnings of existence? someone's' been education you the artwork of the "straw guy" (a nicely absurd sketch of your combatants position, man made through you in certain because it really is undemanding to burn). perhaps if the tea cup replaced into sufficiently huge to carry trillions of gallons of water (the quantity of water contained in the oceans of the early earth). upload in each and every of the salts, amino acids, and different organic and organic compounds that would want to were accessible contained in the early earth. eliminate oxygen, and upload carbon dioxide and methane into the air on acceptable of the teacup. eliminate any ozone layer protective the teacup from intense-ability radiation. ensure the teacup is baked relentlessly through the daylight for that billion years, and boiled from below with really warm volcanic vents less than intense stress. perhaps a tea cup like that. Oh, and be particular and performance some trillion tea cups boiling away on trillions of alternative earth-like planets throughout the time of the universe. Then, definite. i imagine one billion years might want to do it.

2016-11-06 00:22:54 · answer #6 · answered by bojan 4 · 0 0

It would depend on the distance from the star not the size of the star.

2006-07-06 12:55:48 · answer #7 · answered by harryt62 4 · 0 0

That would really make life seem mechanical. I would imagine not

2006-07-06 12:58:57 · answer #8 · answered by detailsondemand 2 · 0 0

fedest.com, questions and answers