A nearby star system thought of as a candidate for harbouring life has 10 times the number of asteroids and comets as found in our Solar System. The sheer number of bodies raging around the Sun-like star may mean that any potential life is choked off, say UK researchers.
The star, Tau Ceti, lies just 12 light-years away and has been eyed as a possible oasis for life because of its similarity to the Sun and the inference of a surrounding debris disk that may harbour planets.
Imaging the disk has now identified the 10-billion-year-old Tau Ceti as the oldest of about a dozen stars with confirmed disks. Its span is similar to our Solar System’s Kuiper Belt.
This shadowy belt consists of a ring of comets and asteroids reaching just past Pluto’s orbit. But the amount of dust around Tau Ceti suggests it is circled by more than 10 times as many of the objects.
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