Mar 12 2009
Cometary Life Limit
Large debris disks around certain stars may imply a high rate of killer comets that wipe out any chance of life forming.
Many of our own solar system’s comets are found in the Kuiper Belt, a debris-filled disk that extends from Neptune’s orbit (30 AU) out to almost twice that distance. Other stars have been shown to have similar debris disks.
“The debris is dust and larger fragments produced by the break-up of comets or asteroids as they collide amongst themselves,” says Jane Greaves of the University of St. Andrews in Scotland. [...]
Source: Space.com – click here for full article
