Nyrath Posted October 8, 2009 Report Share Posted October 8, 2009 http://www.dailygalaxy.com/my_weblog/2009/10/death-stars-of-the-rosette-nebula.html We've known for a while that large astronomical events can spell bad news for life: supernovae unleash unimaginable levels radiation, asteroids can kick up climate-killing clouds, and black holes can suck things out of existence altogether. Now it seems that simply wandering too close to big star can evaporate a planet before it even forms. Very spooky. The planet-less stars are haunted by the ghosts of planets that died aborning. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
L. Marcus Posted October 8, 2009 Report Share Posted October 8, 2009 Re: Death Stars of the Rosette Nebula ... Just boiling away into the Great Nothing ... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sundog Posted October 9, 2009 Report Share Posted October 9, 2009 Re: Death Stars of the Rosette Nebula It seems like every new discovery makes the first variable in the Drake Equation smaller and smaller... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kristopher Posted October 9, 2009 Report Share Posted October 9, 2009 Re: Death Stars of the Rosette Nebula It seems like every new discovery makes the first variable in the Drake Equation smaller and smaller... Isn't the first variable the rate of star formation? The Drake equation states that: N = R* x fp x ne x fℓ x fi x fc x L where: N is the number of civilizations in our galaxy with which communication might be possible; and R* is the average rate of star formation per year in our galaxy fp is the fraction of those stars that have planets ne is the average number of planets that can potentially support life per star that has planets fℓ is the fraction of the above that actually go on to develop life at some point fi is the fraction of the above that actually go on to develop intelligent life fc is the fraction of civilizations that develop a technology that releases detectable signs of their existence into space L is the length of time such civilizations release detectable signals into space.[2] In terms of what we know, the values of L, fc, fi, and fℓ, are completely unknown and any value is a SWAG. ne and fp, we're just starting to figure out R* is the only one for which we have any kind of accuracy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sundog Posted October 11, 2009 Report Share Posted October 11, 2009 Re: Death Stars of the Rosette Nebula Sorry, you're correct, of course. I meant the THIRD variable. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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