Question

How many stars in the Milky Way could be suitable for ETI?

A) Less than 100
B) Between 1,000 and 10,000
C) More than 100,000

Answer 1

There might be between 1,000 to 10,000 stars in the Milky Way that could be suitable for extraterrestrial intelligence (ETI).

Step-by-step explanation:

The Milky Way Galaxy contains about 100 billion stars. If we assume that 50% of these stars have planetary systems, and 10% of those have a rocky planet in the habitable zone, we can estimate the number of stars in the Milky Way that could be suitable for extraterrestrial intelligence (ETI). Assuming that 10% of the habitable planets are in benign environments, 0.1% manage to produce life, and 0.1% of those result in intelligent life, we can calculate that there might be around 1,000 to 10,000 stars in the Milky Way that could be suitable for ETI.