Dying Stars Hold The Promise Of Alien Life
Tuesday, July 5, 2011 at 07:09PM 
By Ken Crosswell [New Scientist]
They might be in their twilight years, but white dwarf stars are the perfect places to look for habitable planets
WELCOME to Procyon B, a nearby star that's light years away from the sun, and not only in distance terms. Unlike the healthy star we circle, Procyon B is dim and dying. Having thrown off its outer layers, it is puny compared with the sun. And it is so dense that were you able to scoop up a spoonful of its material, it would weighs tonnes. So unlike our sun is Procyon B, in fact, that those seeking extraterrestrial life have long overlooked the star's potential.
But we may have been too hasty, according to Eric Agol, an astronomer at the University of Washington in Seattle. Though dim and diminutive, Procyon B and other white dwarf stars like it could host planets sporting mild temperatures, oceans and living critters.
With billions of white dwarfs in our galaxy alone, Agol's work opens up a new frontier in the search for intelligent life.
Read more here.
(Image: An artist's impression of a low mass dwarf, courtesy NASA/ESA/G Bacon (STScI).)
