Absence of Planets in Globular Clusters
TNRTB Archive – Retained for reference information
Australian astronomers have found more evidence that possible life sites in the Milky Way Galaxy are rare. They performed the deepest search to date for planets in the globular cluster 47 Tucanae, the globular cluster for which astronomers have the highest probability of finding planets. They found none and determined that their inability to find any planets was due to the low metal abundance of globular cluster stars. Since 98 percent of the stars in the Milky Way Galaxy are low-metallicity stars, this study confirms that only 2 percent of the Milky Way Galaxy stars are candidates for possessing planets. Since most galaxies are metal-poor compared to the Milky Way Galaxy, planets must be relatively rare in the universe. Since a planet capable of supporting life must manifest dozens of extraordinarily fine-tuned characteristics, Earth’s capacity to support life cannot be reasonably attributed to chance.
- David T. F. Weldrake, et al, “An Absence of Hot Jupiter Planets in 47 Tucanae: Results of a Wide-Field Transit Search,” Astrophysical Journal 620 (2005): 1043-51.
- https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/ApJ/journal/issues/ApJ/v620n2/18889/brief/18889.abstract.html
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