I guess in some ways, our solar system is special.<br /><br />If our sun was in a massive globular cluster or 5K LY from the galactic core, it would be problematical at the least for a stable solar system to form I would think, let alone harbor an environment friendly to biological life. Living in the "backwoods" has its advantages.<br /><br />As far as the elemental/geological composition of the bodies in our solar system, I don't think Solville is special at all.<br /><br />I think life in an of itself is what makes our neighborhood special. "Special" is a relative term though.<br /><br />Compared to what? Our corner of the galaxy? The galaxy in its entirety? The Local Group? The entire Universe?<br /><br />If there were 100,000 solar systems in our galaxy that were not only similar in composition to ours but also harbored biological life, wouldn't we still be special considering that there are on the order of 200 Billion stars in the galaxy?<br /><br />I think what determines our "specialness" has less to do with star types and elements, and more to do with the roll of the dice coming up lucky 7s in our case.<br /><br /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <em>"2012.. Year of the Dragon!! Get on the Dragon Wagon!".</em> </div>