NASA says 'Goldilocks' stars are the best places to look for life on other planets

For centuries, humankind has often wondered if there could be life on other planets. Now, as astronomers discover new stars and planets, scientists consider the conditions required for a planet to sustain life.  

According to the NASA website, an ongoing idea supported by a set of astronomical surveys that have been conducted for more than decades conclude that the star would have to reside in the "Goldilocks zone." Like the story of Goldilocks and the three bears, the star can't be too hot, or too cold, but just right.

Additionally, the star can't be too violent to host life-sustaining planets.

Edward Guinan of Villanova University, located in Villanova, Pennsylvania, calls the Goldilocks zone "the sweet spot."

"K-dwarf stars are in the 'sweet spot,' with properties intermediate between the rarer, more luminous, but shorter-lived solar-type stars (G stars) and the more numerous red dwarf stars (M stars)," Guinan said in a post on NASA's website. "The K stars, especially the warmer ones, have the best of all worlds. If you are looking for planets with habitability, the abundance of K stars pump up your chances of finding life."