Stellar encounters with giant molecular clouds
Giant molecular clouds (GMCs) are believed to affect the biospheres of planets as their host star passes through them. We simulate the trajectories of stars and GMCs in the Galaxy and determine how often stars pass through GMCs. We find a strong decreasing dependence with Galactocentric radius, and with the velocity perpendicular to the Galactic plane, Vz. The XY-component of the kinematic heating
