Heavy metal stars produce Earth-Like planets

Astronomen haben festgestellt, dass Kandidaten für erdähnliche Planeten überwiegend um Schwermetall-Sonnen kreisen. Schwermetalle sind für Astronomen zwar alles, was schwerer als Helium und Wasserstoff ist, aber egal. SETI wird bei der Suche nach außerirdischem Leben demnächst also vor allem nach Heavy Metal Stars im Weltall suchen.

Und: Unsere Sonne besteht zu 73,5% aus Wasserstoff und 25% aus Helium, was die Erde praktisch zum intergalaktischen Soft Rock Shit macht. Die Erde ist Bon Jovi in Space. Ich stelle mir grade den galaktischen Senat vor, Aldebaran III hat Slayer, Betelgeuse Five hat Anthrax (mit zwei Köpfen) und die Erde hat… Nickelback. OH NOEZ! Anderseits: Jeder Planet kriegt den Heavy Metal Star, den er verdient. \m/

New research reveals that, like their giant cousins, rocky planets are more likely to be found orbiting high metallicity stars. Furthermore, these planets are more plentiful around low mass stars. This could have important implications for the search for life outside of Earth.

Kevin Schlaufman and Gregory Laughlin, both of the University of California at Santa Cruz, studied the 997 stars with candidate planets thought to be in orbit around them, as reported by Kepler’s science team last February. Schlaufman and Laughlin confirmed that both large and small planets were more likely to be found around stars with higher metallicities.

For astronomers, elements other than hydrogen and helium are considered “metals.” Stars with high metallicities contain a significant amount of other elements. These metals were first formed when early stars, composed of the two basic gases hydrogen and helium, died in a violent supernova, spewing their contents into space.

Sally Dodson-Robinson, of the University of Texas at Austin, noted that it wasn’t surprising to find that terrestrial planets tend to form around more metallic stars.

Heavy metal stars produce Earth-Like planets (via Reddit, Bild: Cover von Iron Maidens „Out of The Silent Planet“, passt fast schon zu gut.)