That is close enough to communicate with. We could begin aiming lasers or other types of information transmission at the planet and sending them signals to see if they are able to respond. It would take a minimum of 32 years to find out if there was intelligent life there, but that isn't all that long in the grand scheme of things.

Well that's a good question; when we look for planets that can support life we look for planets that can support life---as WE know it, not as we don't know it. There could be some really crazy aliens out there that do stuff we could never dream of, but we are forced to narrow our search for things that we know can support life.

We study animals called extremophiles, little tiny organisms that can survive extreme conditions like extreme heat or extreme cold or in environments with very little water. We study these things to know the range at which life can exist in the universe, and in order to narrow our search we look for planets that fall within these parameters.

Well if the human species is to survive, we will have to leave Earth in the next few million years. So looking for other Earths that can support life, means if we can live on those planets with minimal adjustments.

The Sun is getting hotter everyday, at some point it will get so hot that there will be a runaway greenhouse effect just like on Venus.

The more planets we can find that has the chance to support us, the better our chances for survival.

Otherwise what is the point of intelligence if we are all doomed to extinction anyways.

They mostly just check to see if a planet is within the right distance from its sun.

L.Diego is right...if we go there and invade them, that means we're the greys, we're the aliens! Waaaaaa.....but I don't wanna be an alien!