Stars' Habitable Zones Are Larger Than Previously Thought

Good news for those searching for life elsewhere in the universe: a study released today suggests that planets orbiting surprisingly close to their stars can remain livable. This extension of the so-called habitable zone, based on computer modeling, is also important for what it implies about our own planet's future habitability. Studying habitable zones has always been tricky, because there's only one habitable planet we know of---our own. Still, astronomers have established the general bo