Sunday, February 19, 2006

Top five stars for planets with advanced life

* beta CVn, a sun-like star about 26 light years away in the constellation Canes Venatici

* HD 10307, another solar analogue about 42 light years away. It has almost the same mass, temperature and metallicity of the Sun. It also has a benign companion star.

* HD 211415, about half the metal content of Sun and a bit cooler, this star is just a little farther away than HD 10307.

* 18 Sco, a popular target for proposed planet searches. The star, in the constellation Scorpio, is almost an identical twin to the Sun.

* *51 Pegasus. Already famous. In 1995, Swiss astronomers reported they had detected the first planet beyond our solar system in orbit around 51 Pegasus. An American team soon verified the finding of the Jupiter-like object

posted by fusionlin @ 6:43 PM 1 comments

Beta CVn Star

The star is 26 light years away - 153 trillion miles - and it heads a shortlist of five stars that astronomer Margaret Turnbull of the Carnegie Institution in Washington believes could be the focus of fresh attempts to make contact with other intelligent beings.

Dr Turnbull has also identified the star she believes is most likely to have a companion planet similar to the Earth where simple life could evolve because of the presence of liquid water - thought to be necessary for life.

posted by fusionlin @ 6:36 PM 0 comments