New evidence indicates that rocky, Earth-like planets can form around a diverse range of stars, suggesting that

the universe holds many more of the planets than previously thought. The finding could have important consequences for the hunt for extraterrestrial life. "Potentially habitable planets can form around virtually any kind of star" Using data from Nasas Kepler spacecraft, researchers around the US and Europe sur veyed upward of 150 stars known to have planets, correlating the metallicities o f the stars with their planets sizes. In astronomer speak, "metals" are elements other than hydrogen or helium for example, silicon and oxygen, key components of rocks. Metals take time for stars to cook up, so if rocky planets are only foun d around highly metallic stars, life would have to be a relatively recent develo pment. According to David Latham, a lead researcher on the project, "giant plane ts prefer metal-rich stars. Little ones dont," suggesting that "terrestrial world s could form at almost any time in our galaxys history." The results of the study have been published in the journal Nature. In order to find out what the study means for the possibility of life outside ou r solar system, io9 spoke with Seth Shostak, Senior Astronomer at the SETI Insti tute. "The message weve been getting from the planet hunting community is loud an d clear, and that message is that all stars have planets," said Shostak. Since l ife is potentially everywhere, he would like to focus more of the institutes atte ntion on the dense center of our galaxy. "Now that we know that potentially habi table planets can form around virtually any kind of star, its important to focus our attention on star-rich areas"