Just 18 light-years away, astronomers have found one of the best nearby targets in the search for life: a candidate super-Earth called GJ 251 c, sitting in the habitable zone of a red dwarf star. Future giant telescopes may be able to image it directly — and look for clues that it has water, air, or even biology.
The search for life beyond the Solar System often sounds impossibly remote. Many promising planets orbit stars so…
