Habitable zone for complex life

Natural shielding against space weather and solar wind, such as the magnetosphere depicted in this artistic rendition, is required for planets to sustain life for prolonged periods.

A Habitable Zone for Complex Life (HZCL) is a range of distances from a star suitable for complex aerobic life. Different types of limitations preventing complex life give rise to different zones.[1] Conventional habitable zones are based on compatibility with water.[2] Most zones start at a distance from the host star and then end at a distance farther from the star. A planet would need to orbit inside the boundaries of this zone. With multiple zonal constraints, the zones would need to overlap for the planet to support complex life. The requirements for bacterial life produce much larger zones than those for complex life, which requires a very narrow zone.[3][4][5]

  1. ^ "Not All Habitable Zones Are Created Equal". www.spacedaily.com.
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference auto6 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ "New Discovery Shows 'Habitable Zone for Complex Life' is Much More Narrow than Original Estimates – NASA". June 10, 2019.
  4. ^ Williams, Matt; Today, Universe. "Complex life might require a very narrow habitable zone". phys.org.
  5. ^ How do you form a habitable planet?, Georgia State University Research