16 LONELY PLANET
ost places are muco life tery globe.
So far space scientists seventy planets outside tem, outof ten billion trillion or so t are t to be out tospeak y on tter, but it appears t if you able forlife, you o be just aobe. Various observers ified about ticularly till to theyare:
Excellent location.e are, to an almost uncanny degree, t distance from t sortof star, one t is big enougo radiate lots of energy, but not so big as to burn itself outsly. It is a curiosity of p tar t burns. en times as massive, it self after ten million years instead of tenbillion and be unate to orbit woo muchingwould have frozen.
In 1978, an astrop named Mic made some calculations and concluded tEartable been just 1 percent fartcloser to t’s not muc it enougtle more generous—5 percent nearer and 15 percent fartto be more accurate assessments for our zone of ability—but t is still a narro.
1to appreciate just o look at Venus. Venus is only ty-fivemillion miles closer to t just tesbefore it toucion, Venus is very like Eart tal distance made all to turned out. It appears tduring tem Venus ra t Venus could not o its surface er, rous consequences for its climate. As its er evaporated,toms escaped into space, and toms combined o forma dense atmospifling. Altime ropical verdure, it is mucoofierce an environment for any kind of life t s surfacetemperature is a roasting 470 degrees centigrade (roug), lead, and tmosp ty times t ofEartand. e lack teco make suitsor even spaces o