Hi everyone!

I'm new to this forum and new to astronomy in general, though it really interest and fascinates me.

I have a question about galaxies, and I'm sorry if this has been up on the boards a million of times before. How much of a galaxy can possibly harbour life? I think our solar system is located in a spot between two large arms in the Milky Way, right? So is it only possible for life to exist in certain areas of a galaxy? And if so, is there a general figure for how large part of a galaxy that is able to contain life? Sure not in the direct center maybe, where a black whole most possible exists, but besides that..

Looking at Spitzer's stunning foto of the two merging galaxies in Canis Major in infra-red it looks like most part of the galaxy is hot gas, not very pleasant for life to grow i think :)

Again, sorry if this has been up before!

i guess, its about the star habitable zone and natural creation  (not by impact), well at least theres a high chance of the life existence. how can a galaxy decide about the life of the star? for example: if our galaxy looks so dusty and all, we dont see any nebula from here (by naked eye) eh? you may not understand me, having hangover and typing such a weak english :P

I believe recent findings indicate that we are between one arm of the milky way and th emain body of our galaxy. The original 4 arm diagram of the Milky Way was wrong and they have since updated it to a normal two arm galaxy.

Our solar system, and others like it, in approximate location of around 5 to 10 light-years from our location in the galaxy, is known as the habitable zone.  There is thought to be wayyyy too much going on, in other areas/arms of our galaxy.  I wish I had a more precise answer to your question, but, you might have to do some research on our own galactic center, led by Dr. Andrea Ghez (UCLA) - any links that you found related to "The Galactic Center Group", would probably give you more information related to the different habitable zones of our own galaxy.  Best wishes! -drew

 Is it only possible for life to exist in certain areas of a galaxy?I think the answer is no.We always think that life in the world out of the earth is the same to Human beings,but what if they don't need water or oxygen and just need firedamp？

 What Lover of the Stars refers to has been brought up in the mag.

The galaxy has it's own habital zone. This has nothing to do with how our life is suited or any others. Any closer to the centre and stars are likely to pass by each other too frequently and planetary systems are likely to interact more.  There are less metal stars and stars in general further out. Metal stars are more likely to harbour life.

Haha - Touche! - I stand corrected, or should I say - I SIT corrected! LOL - HA! - good replies, though.  Good replies!  -drew

What if intelligent life can live in extreme cold or extreme heat?  Why does the science community always believe that ALL life must have this and must have that to survive?  What if there’s a planet out there with all there water salt water, don’t you think that perhaps they would oh I don’t know evolve to be able to drink, cook survive off it?  I do, we really need to think out of the box when looking for life out there and not just think well if they that don’t have fresh water there can’t be life.

I agree that Earth Science shouldn't be the only way for life to survive. However the reasons about closer to the centre of the galaxy can't be rectified by this as the planets would spiral away to their doom.

"What if intelligent life can live in extreme cold or extreme heat?  Why does the science community always believe that ALL life must have this and must have that to survive?  What if there’s a planet out there with all there water salt water, don’t you think that perhaps they would oh I don’t know evolve to be able to drink, cook survive off it?  I do we really need to think out of the box when looking for life out there and not just think well if they that don’t have fresh water there can’t be life."

I am no longer responding to any of these 'argumentative-types' of replies.  Go ahead and argue witha  brick wall - it would do you much more good than to argue your point, with myself.  Good luck with that... p.s. oh, and i'm NOT part of the scientific community - just a regular guy who is on disability, can't see very well anymore, can't drive anymore, and has a brain-disease.  So, have a good one... sheesh...

The green people are OUT THERE watching us

now THAT is my kind of reply, above !!! - the green people are most DEF out there !!! - we have no idea what even a FRACTION, and at that a small small percentage, about what's going on in our soloric neighborhood! - I totally agree withe the above post - thx for keeping this interesting, whoever you are !!! - cheers, -drew =P