Sun May Have Moved Great Distance From Its Birthplace, Astronomers Say

Dang. Once you drive a sun off the lot the value drops by like 10%.

Yeah, and the warranty's about to run out, too, I bet...

What! the warranty's out! No way, man, we gotta claim on it, quick, before the landlord realises what we've done!

No foolin' - I've heard we only have 6 or 7 billion years left...the merest blink of an eye cosomologically speaking. (Not to be confused with cosmetologically speaking. That puts a whole different wrinkle into it.)

Naturally there is a zone that may support life in solar systems, mass of Sol limited to 0.5 to 3 times of our sun as if too lightweight the light will be dim and too heavy the lifetime will be too sort.

Same inside a galaxy: the central region is often grilled by gamma-ray bursts of dying stars or merging neutron binary-stars or the central black hole swallowing a big chunk. So carbon based life has no chance. Same in the active star-birth regions of galactic arms. Same in the vicinity of a magnetar.

Medium distance from center is habitable, outer range may be if the sun has moved there - away from hot star-birth regions where survival is unlikely by frequent super-novas of massive stars.

The situation is worse than you can imagine as we are composed of the remnants of an earlier sun and planets that has blown up in a supernova (may be more than one).

So why not migrate through the galaxy, find a possibility to survive for the next 1 to 7 billion years and report what you have seen.

RHABE

Well, DOH! The galaxy is spinning and moving through space, the spiral arms are changing shape and the sun is moving relative to other stars nearby. Of course it has moved a great distance from where it first formed.

Somewhere I have a recent newspaper clipping with a quote (in answer to a readers question) from the Astronomer Royal (or somebody with a jolly good title like that) ; According to him we are all headed for the region where Vega currently lies. He might be the (gratuitous brackets) chap to sort this out by working it backwards.

A good point, the way you are going is most likely the opposite of the way you have come - unless you navigate solely by Brownian movement!

http://xanadu.math.utah.edu/java/brownianmotion/1/

Let me up the Ante......

Chaotic or complex ? Remember the computer game "Maxwells Demon" ? Here is a not very good online version. Gravy Booby !

It's amazing that this appears to have been regarded as newsworthy.

The galaxy we are located in, slowly rotates, and the arm our solar system is in rotates with that galactic rotation.

Our Star - Sun plus all the solar system moves up and down through the galactic plane on an oscillating basis.

Have you ever been at a fairground, and watched the carousel, with the horses moving up and down?

Our solar system is equivalently on part of a carousel horse, on the galactic carousel.

Now you know why you get that giddy feeling.

Kind Regards....

Yeah, you move out to the suburbs looking for a little peace and quiet, then the dang carnival comes to town, settles in for a long stay, and there go the property values!

Hello EnviroMan

That what our stellarly near neighbours are saying about us, right now.

Kind Regards....