Just as the radio and television signals broadcast on Earth a few years ago now are spreading out past the stars in our own neighborhood, so might signals from other life-forms be passing us at this very moment. The stars are far away, and we can't go to them to look for life, not for a while anyway. Even so there are methods that we can adopt on Earth, at modest cost, to look for life else where in the universe. One thing we can do is look for planets around the nearer stars, to check our theory that the solar system is not unique, to verify at least one link in the chain of logic which suggests that intelligent life must be common in the universe. We may not be able to see planets around the nearest stars, even with the Space Telescope.
Planets are too small and dim, and the nearest stars are still too far.
Planets orbiting around a star would cause tiny wiggles in its motion across the sky. With high-precision observations, we perhaps can determine that a star has planets, even though we could not see them. Proof that the solar system is not unique would be a major scientific discovery in any case. It would also be an important step toward the eventual discov ery of life elsewhere. Listening to the stars.