Catalogue of K dwarf stars could guide searches for alien life.

Researchers compiled a catalogue of more than 2,000 K dwarf stars within about 130 light years, using observations from observatories in Chile and Arizona.

Researchers have compiled a catalogue of more than 2,000 K dwarf stars that could host life. The listed stars are all within about 130 light years of Earth. Observations were made from two ground-based observatories, one in the Chilean Andes and one in southern Arizona, which together provide coverage of both hemispheres. K dwarfs are cooler and fainter than the Sun, are relatively common locally and have long lifetimes, qualities the researchers say make them potential places to look for inhabited planets. Key details: - The catalogue covers more than 2,000 K dwarf stars located within about 130 light years (40 parsecs). - Data were gathered using high-resolution spectra from observatories in the Chilean Andes and in southern Arizona, allowing all-sky coverage. - Researchers estimated stellar properties such as temperature, age, rotation rate and motion through space from the spectra. - K dwarf stars are cooler and fainter than the Sun, are reported to be roughly twice as common as Sun-like stars in the local area, and have longer lifetimes. - The work was presented at a conference in a paper titled "An All-Sky Spectroscopic Reconnaissance of More Than 2,100 K Dwarfs Within 40 Parsecs Using High-Resolution Spectra." Summary: The catalogue is intended to serve as a baseline dataset for follow-up study of these stars and assessments of any planets they host. Researchers reported that the data can be used to infer conditions on orbiting planets and suggested that some of the listed systems could eventually be targets for spacecraft. Undetermined at this time.