Top stars picked in alien search

[Mike]

An US astronomer has drawn up a shortlist of the stars most likely to harbour intelligent life.

Scientists have been listening out for radio signals from other solar systems in the hope of detecting civilisations other than our own.

Margaret Turnbull at the Carnegie Institution in Washington DC looked at criteria such as the star's age and the amount of iron in its atmosphere.

Her top candidate was beta CVn, a Sun-like star 26 light-years away.

Dr Turnbull had previously identified about 17,000 stellar systems that she thought could be inhabited.

From these, she has selected five stars that look most likely to support intelligent extraterrestrial life forms - if they exist.

For the FULL Story - http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/4728228.stm