The search for alien life has taken an interesting turn as researchers claim to have found new hunting ground.
A new study has suggested why ancient star networks, known globular clusters, could be where alien civilisations thrive.
According to Nature, this is a spot that has been "discounted" by scientists in the past due to a long-held belief that the gravitational interaction between the stars would throw any extrasolar planets (a planet that orbits a star other than the sun) into space.
However, two scientists have suggested the closeness of the stars within these clusters could help foster extra terrestrial life.
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"If there is an advanced society in an environment like that, it could set up outposts relatively easily, because we’re dealing with distances that are so much shorter,” Dr. Di Stefano, a theoretical astrophysicist working on the research, told Nature.
Working with Alak Ray from India's Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, she discussed the research at the
Referring to a previous discovery of exoplanet - "Methuselah" - within a globular cluster, the BBC reported her comments to journalists: "I think most of us would say that the discovery of that one, bizarre planet indicates that there must be other planets in that cluster."
Other experts said that while these conclusions are "speculative," it could prove useful in the future.
"I think it does lift globular clusters up, in the wish list of targets to search," Alan Penny, an astronomer at the University of St Andrews in Scotland and co-ordinator of the UK Seti Research Network, told the BBC.