Wolf-Rayet Star Goldilocks Zone

[The Inquisitor]

Purely out of interest, would anyone out there be able to figure out how many AU the goldilocks zone around R136a1 would be? It's a Wolf-Rayet star with a aprox 265 solar masses and 8,700,000 times the luminosity of the sun.

I know a few of you guys are a dab hand at mind boggling physics/maths. Any help to satisfy my curiosity would be much appreciated.

 

[B.J.]

They don't show their math, but this:
http://www.astronomy.com/en/News-Observing/Ask%20Astro/2010/11/Not%20so%20habitable.aspx
...has it at about 2,500 to 5,100 AU.

Although I'd wonder if the powerful stellar wind this star creates would strip off a planet's atmosphere in that zone.

 

[Asbo Zaprudder]

Wolf-Rayet stars generally mass at least 20 solar masses so they're going to have very short lives compared to a star like the Sun - probably not enough time for a system of planets to stabilise at several thousand AUs distance and certainly not for life to get going - not to mention the UV flux would be problematic.

 

[The Inquisitor]

Thanks for the responses. Good point about the likelihood of a planet being able to hang on to it's atmosphere, hadn't considered that!

 

[Psion]

Remember the lesson from 51 Pegasi b ... until a few years ago, astronomers would scoff at the notion of a gas giant so close to its primary. Until we actually get a good, close look at Wolf-Rayet stars, this is all just conjecture.

Educated conjecture, but there's still wiggle-room.

 

[The Inquisitor]

Good point Psion. I was thinking of a planet that could harbour life as we know it (liquid water, oxygenated atmosphere etc). I would guess the goldilocks zone of such a star would be wider, as it were, than our own solar system due to the shear distance from the star. A potential habitable zone between 2000 - 5000 AU could itself span over a full AU if the star was stable enough.

 

[Neroon]

Remember the lesson from 51 Pegasi b ... until a few years ago, astronomers would scoff at the notion of a gas giant so close to its primary. Until we actually get a good, close look at Wolf-Rayet stars, this is all just conjecture.

Educated conjecture, but there's still wiggle-room.

That is a good , succinct point. Still, "Educated conjecture" is very often the foundation upon which great discoveries are made.

 

[Asbo Zaprudder]

There are also oddities such as planets around neutron stars. Saying something is impossible almost invites the Universe to prove you wrong.

 

[The Inquisitor]

Going with the upper Goldilocks limit if 5,100 AU + some of my dodgy maths, the orbit around said star (R136a1) would be half a light year!

 

[Asbo Zaprudder]

Going with the upper Goldilocks limit if 5,100 AU + some of my dodgy maths, the orbit around said star (R136a1) would be half a light year!

Except that 1 ly = 63,241.1 AU (approx) so 5100 AU is more like 0.08 ly.

 

[sojourner]

Dodgy math indeed!

 

[The Inquisitor]

Haha! I knew I would have cocked it up somehow! That's what a D in GCSE maths gets you. Always handy having people who know what they are on about close to hand