USATODAY.com – The growing habitable zone: Locations for life abound
In a galaxy filled with billions of stars, scientists searching for alien life need some way to pick out those which are most likely to harbor habitable planets and moons. For more than 150 years, an important tool in this screening process has been the concept of a “circumstellar habitable zone.”
An interesting article which mentions Extremophiles (organisms that thrive in harsh environments) like ones found here on Earth, could very well exist on some of the active moons in the solar system. The story also asks the question, “are planets orbiting red dwarfs habitable?” This debate started since the recent discovery of a small, rocky world in orbit around a red dwarf 28,000 light-years from us. Since then most scientists largely ignored these types of stars, assuming no life could be found orbiting them.