Possible Second Home?

The star Epsilon Eridani has often been mentioned by scientists as a possible parent of life. Only about 10.5 light years away, it's slightly smaller and cooler than the Sun, and much younger-- perhaps 850 million years old to the Sun's 4.6 billion years. New research suggests the star might have a planetary system similar to our own, as well.

Astronomers have found three debris rings orbiting Epsilon Eridani-- one icy ring far out from the star, another closer in similar to our Kuiper Belt beyond Neptune, and a third analogous to our Main Belt of asteroids. They postulate at least three giant planets in the outer part of the system, gravitationally policing the rings, and speculate that terrestrial planets could exist within the inner ring, which might put them in the star's habitable zone.

Ten light years is quite a distance, but if the payoff of making such a trip would be inheriting a brand new solar system similar to our own, an incredibly wealthy spacefaring human civilization several centuries from now might decide to make humanity immortal by establishing a branch of humankind around a second star.