생명체 거주가능 영역(Habitable Zone).

 
생명체 거주가능 영역(Habitable Zone, HZ)은 지구상의 생명체들이 살아가기에 적합한 환경을 지니는 우주 공간의 범위를 말합니다. 항성계 내에 있는 항성 주위 생명체 거주가능 영역(circumstellar habitable zone, CHZ)에서 생명이 태어날 확률이 큽니다. 이러한 지역을 '그린벨트', '골디락스 지대', '생명체 영역', '생태권' 등으로 부릅니다. 여기서 골디락스 지대란 너무 차갑지도 않고 뜨겁지도 않은, 적당한 온도의 지대라는 의미입니다. 우리 태양계의 경우 HZ는 0.95에서 1.15 AU 범위입니다.

Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Chester Harman.

https://exoplanets.nasa.gov/the-search-for-life/habitable-zones/  

https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/kepler/multimedia/images/kepler-22b-diagram.html  

https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/spaceimages/details.php?id=pia21424