Harvard Scientist Says Interstellar Civilizations Could Be Thriving In The Milky Way

The deepest space photo ever taken by NASA

At a national gathering of astronomers on Wednesday, a Harvard University scientist pinpointed where interstellar civilizations could be thriving in the Milky Way.

Rosanne DiStefano of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics told a meeting of the American Astronomical Society that "a globular cluster might be the first place in which intelligent life is identified in our galaxy."
The clusters—dense bunches of solar systems—would afford the best opportunity for life to evolve and establish relations with nearby planets.

It comes a half-century after the kick-off of American academics' official Search for Extra Terrestrial Intelligence (SETI), and months after NASA's head of science told a congressional hearing that humanity was "on the cusp" of learning if alien intelligence exists.



Globular star clusters hold millions of stars in spaces that average about 100 light years across—extremely dense by galactic standards. Our Milky Way galaxy hosts about 150 such clusters.

Scholarly debate questions whether the clusters even bear planets. In fact only one has ever been found. But spotting distant planets from the Earth is like noting specks of dust drifting on the other side of town; not easy. DiStefano and her colleague, Alak Ray of the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research in Mumbai, argued that there could be planets in the clusters, and that those planets would be well suited to host life.

As scientists understand, temperature is key for the evolution of life. Liquid water seems necessary for the most basic biological processes, and the precious compound exists in its rare liquid state through a tiny temperature range before it is frozen or vaporized. DiStefano's research stipulated that the "just right" range could be most easily found inside globular clusters.

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