Short list of stars most likely to support life

At the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science this weekend, astronomer Margaret Turnbull of the Carnegie Institution unveiled her "stellar shortlist" of ten nearby stars most likely to host Earth-like, life-bearing planets. They include beta CVn, epsilon Indi A, 51 Pegasus, 18 Sco, epsilon Eridani, omicron2 Eridani, alpha Centauri B, and tau Ceti, which will be the first targets of NASA's planned Terrestrial Planet Finder - which unfortunately has been indefinitely postponed due to drastic budget cuts proposed by President Bush earlier this month (in stark contrast to his 2004 "vision for space exploration").

As Star Trek fans will attest, it should be noted that that omicron2 Eridani (aka 40 Eridani) is home to the planet Vulcan.

(Additional reports available from Reuters and New Scientist.)