Multiple Stars and the Number of Habitable Planets in the Galaxy
Abstract
The Green Bank Equation for the number of communicative civilizations, N, in our Galaxy is reconsidered in view of recent information on the multiplicity of solar-type stars and the possibilities of forming habitable planets around them. Our results are contingent upon the statistical validity of Abt and Levy's work of stellar multiplicity and upon features of Heppen-heimer's theory of planet formation in binary systems. It is concluded that N may have been overestimated by a factor of at least 50.
- Publication:
-
Icarus
- Pub Date:
- March 1977
- DOI:
- 10.1016/0019-1035(77)90113-0
- Bibcode:
- 1977Icar...30..598H
- Keywords:
-
- Extrasolar Planets;
- Extraterrestrial Life;
- Milky Way Galaxy;
- Star Distribution;
- Binary Stars;
- Cosmology;
- Habitability;
- Interstellar Communication;
- Planetary Evolution;
- Planetary Nebulae;
- Statistical Analysis