Extraterrestrial life?

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A Rice astronomer has concluded that some stars in the Milky Way's Orion Nebula contain enough material to form planetary systems similar to our solar system.

The new findings by Astrophysics Professor C. Robert O'Dell and his colleagues are based on the analysis of photos taken by the Hubble Space Telescope. They add to the evidence that other stars may have planets orbiting them, which increases the possibility that intelligent life exists elsewhere in the universe.

Current cosmological thinking suggests that planetary systems form around stars about 1 million years after they ignite.

"That's just about the age we're seeing [in the nebula]," O'Dell said.

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