Giant 'scope joins search for alien life; SCIENCE.

A GIANT telescope in Australia has been aimed at the sun's galactic next-door neighbour as part of a major new search for intelligent aliens.

The Parkes radio telescope in New South Wales has been pointed towards Proxima Centauri, a red dwarf star 4.2 light years away.

The decision to target the star follows confirmation that it has an Earth-sized planet in an orbit suitable for life as we know it.

Scientists will use the 210ft telescope dish to scan a host of radio frequencies on the hope of picking up signals from an extraterrestrial civilisation.

The planet is thought to be roughly 1.3 times the size of Earth, rocky, and orbiting the right distance from its star to be able to have liquid water on its surface.

The Parkes radio telescope was the receiver that picked up the first transmissions from Apollo 11 astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin when they set foot on the moon on July 20, 1969.