Sample Astrobiology Activities

Chapter 2: Worlds in Our Universe - Activity 3

What Types of Stars Are in Our Universe?

This chapter helps students discover how location is so important to conditions that support life. Students begin to define what and where to look for conditions that may support life. They investigate locally–the planets and moons in our solar system–then extend their efforts to include the entire universe in defining habitability.

In Activity 3 students produce a plot of 100 stars to study color, temperature, and age relationships between stars as well as their frequency in stellar populations. This information is helpful when determining if a star is capable of supporting life on an orbiting planet or moon in solar systems beyond our own.