What is the Goldilocks Zone?
The Goldilocks Zone is an area ‘just right’ for a life-sustaining
planet – the perfect distance from a star with a surface neither
too hot nor too cold. It is an intersection of life-sustaining
regions within both a solar system and a galaxy. Astronomers believe
that the Goldilocks Zone ranges from 0.725 to three astronomical units
(each about 150 million kilometres, or the mean distance between the
Earth and the Sun).
Recently some planetary bodies have come close to fi tting the bill.
The April 2007 discovery of Gliese 581c in the Libra constellation,
for example, seemed promising until further research proved it was
too hot. However, a nearby planet, Gliese 581d, may turn out to be
just right. At the same time, the defi nition of the Goldilocks Zone is
expanding as scientists discover life on Earth in places previously
thought too extreme to sustain it.
too hot nor too cold. It is an intersection of life-sustaining
regions within both a solar system and a galaxy. Astronomers believe
that the Goldilocks Zone ranges from 0.725 to three astronomical units
(each about 150 million kilometres, or the mean distance between the
Earth and the Sun).
Recently some planetary bodies have come close to fi tting the bill.
The April 2007 discovery of Gliese 581c in the Libra constellation,
for example, seemed promising until further research proved it was
too hot. However, a nearby planet, Gliese 581d, may turn out to be
just right. At the same time, the defi nition of the Goldilocks Zone is
expanding as scientists discover life on Earth in places previously
thought too extreme to sustain it.
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