THE search for planets like our own that may support life could be long and
frustrating. A new study of the Orion Nebula, the nearest star-forming region to
the Earth, suggests that barren lumps of rock may be all that’s orbiting up to
90 per cent of stars.
In the past six years, relatively crude methods have turned up nearly 70
planets beyond our Solar System. So astronomers were hopeful that the galaxy
might be teeming with environments welcoming to life. But Henry Throop of the
University of Colorado in Boulder says that his model of the Orion Nebula
suggests…
