Stable Stars and Extraterrestrial Life
On one hand secularists are searching for signals from intelligent life forms in outer space (which does not seem to be an intelligent use of time and money as far as I reckon). And on the other hand, the numbers game that there must be life out yonder is getting worse all the time because the right combination of conditions have to be in place. Image credit: NASA (Usage does not imply endorsement of site contents) They look for the habitable zone, where a planet is the right distance from a star so it doesn't freeze or burn. In addition, the planet has to be the right size and composition. Does the planet have a magnetic field to help protect it from the solar wind? Stars tend to be unstable, and the planet can't have that, either. There was speculation that κ 1 Ceti was comparable to our own sun because it's young in evolutionary years, but it's as unstable as a feral misotheist. If our sun was that obstreperous long ago, there would be no life here. These peop