We're back with Season 3! For the next six episodes we're talking life in the universe, and so far we have N=1: we know there's life on Earth, but nowhere else as yet. Those are challenging statistics. In this episode Emily makes the case that to explore the possibility of life elsewhere in the cosmos, you need planets — and to have planets, you need stars. She then proceeds to whittle the number of potential life-bearing systems in our galaxy down to a scarily small number. But all is not lost, we still have five episodes to fill with hope and optimism.

On the web: syzygy.fm

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Syzygy is produced by Chris Stewart and co-hosted by Dr Emily Brunsden from the Department of Physics at the University of York.

Some of the things we talk about in this episode:

• Types of stars

• Stellar magnetism

• Multiple star systems

• Stellar metallicity

• The Galactic Habitable Zone