Several astronomers worldwide and NASA’s planet-hunting telescope have been looking for earth-like planets since a long time. Earlier, they have found some planets in the observable universe, which could be inhabitable. Does it mean the universe is becoming more habitable today?

Experts agreed that today’s universe is more in support of welcoming life than it was when life first emerged on our planet. They also speculated that there’re high chances of the universe becoming more habitable in the future. Seeing today’s universe, it could be said that future of planets is going to be good, said Pratika Dayal from Kapteyn Astronomical Institute of the University of Groningen.

Scientists said when formation of stars winds down, radiation levels by the stars decrease. With the drop in the dangerous radiation level, environment becomes more than 20 times as habitable as our planet when first life evolved here. “At the same time, the sheer number of tiny dim stars—each of which could potentially support life-promoting planets—increases the likelihood that life might evolve in the future. These facts render Earth's current inhabitants “premature” in the life of the solar system”, suggested a new study.

Researchers of the study led by Avi Loeb of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics considered tiny, dim stars. Due to the ubiquity and long life of these stars, called red dwarfs, it becomes easy for life to evolve. The researchers said that around such stars, life may become more than thousand times more likely to grow in future.

Still, life around these red dwarfs is a matter of debate in science community. When these stars are young, they’re very active and it is not known whether planets are capable of surviving heat and radiations emit by the sun at that time.

According to a report in Smithsonian Mag by Nola Taylor Redd, "The conditions that make life possible are exquisitely rare. Yet researchers are finding that the universe today is far more welcoming to life than it was when microbes first emerged on Earth—a fact that makes our existence all the more remarkable. Plus, it will only grow even more habitable in the future."

As star formation winds down, the dangerous radiation levels produced by dying stars drops, creating an environment up to 20 times as habitable as the Earth when life first evolved. At the same time, the sheer number of tiny dim stars—each of which could potentially support life-promoting planets—increases the likelihood that life might evolve in the future.

"If it turns out that low-mass stars are able to support life, then we are special because we are one of the early forms of life," Loeb says. However, if no signs of life exist around the dim stars, the equation changes and Earth's inhabitants are right on schedule. "If you consider the minimum mass of the star that allows life to emerge to be the sun, then we are most likely to exist today," Loeb adds.

A report published in UPI revealed, "Life on Earth is premature, new research suggests. The theory contradicts the long-held belief that Earth and its life forms were late to the party. The Earth is only 4.5 billion years old. The universe was born 13.8 billion years ago."

Based on their understanding of the evolution of the early universe and the lifespan of stars, life first became possible 30 million years after the Big Bang and will cease to exist 10 trillion years from now. Scientists designed a model to understand when on the timeline between these two points will cosmic conditions be most conducive to life.

Smaller stars, which live longer, become more abundant over time. Stars with a mass 10 percent of the sun's burn for 10 trillion years, plenty of time for the planets that orbit them to yield life.The new model -- soon to be published in the Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics -- suggests the chance of life will increase by a factor of 1,000 in the distant future.