Museum of Science and Industry

What if I told you that researchers have found another star, in our galaxy, that was the same size as our sun? You would say “Big deal. We’ve found, like, ten billion of those.” But this star may be special! It’s called HP 56948, and a recent paper called it "the best solar twin known to date." HP 56948 has the same unusual chemical makeup as our sun's, and it doesn’t seem to have any large Jupiter-like planets close to it that would crowd out smaller terrestrial planets. Under these conditions, there MAY be one or more Earth-like planets in its solar system, which MAY have spawned life, which MAY have evolved into intelligent life!

In which case, it MAY make sense to aim our radio telescopes toward HP 56548 and start listening for anyone trying to talk to us. It’s a long shot, but in the infinite vastness of space, everything is a long shot.

Sun’s Twin Discovered – the Perfect SETI Target? [DiscoveryNews]

Image: NASA