Mixing astronomy and fairy tales isn’t commonly done, but scientists looking for the “Goldilocks Zone” may have found the perfect spot. It’s not a bed that’s too small or too big, it’s a spot in space that is inhabitable by life forms.

The scientists use a fairy tale term to define the perfect location to sustain life. The “Goldilocks Zone” is not too hot and not too cold. It’s just right!

For decades, astronomers have been searching for real estate in space that could support human life. Far and wide they’ve trained their telescopes on the vastness of space looking for a rock that has enough elements in common with Earth to provide a potential home away from home for you and me.

It turns out, such places may exist even within our own solar system. Granted, they are out on the perimeter and likely frozen, but the conditions that could support life might be on these planet-sized chunks of space gravel that may be suspended in the Oort cloud, which encircles our system and is filled with debris.

Findings presented at a recent American Association for the Advancement of Science meeting in Boston stated that potentially 20 percent to 60 percent of Sun-like stars in the Milky Way are surrounded by the elements that could combine to form a planet in the same way Earth was created.

Buzz Lightyear may not have to go “To infinity and beyond.”

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Tags: Astronomy, Oort cloud, space, Milky Way, Goldilocks Zone, planets, fairy tales

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