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And someone just answer one question for me because I honestly don't know the answer: Our solar system is located in one of the arms of the Milky Way's spiral, now does that make it part of the older (first to form) or newer parts of the galaxy?
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The sun is 5 billion years old.
It is a 3rd generation star; it contains heavy elements which can only be produced in superheavy stars and supernovae.
The largest stars burn up in less than a billion years. The smallest ones can last nearly forever.
http://astronomy.swin.edu.au/GHZ/GHZmovie.html
The general idea is that it takes longer to make enough heavy elements for rocky planet formation in the outskirts of the galaxy since there are fewer supernovae. But close in, there are too many supernovae, and your planets get scorched too often.