The book is devoted to the problem of the possibility of the existence of life, including intelligent life, on other planetary systems. However, the book contains a fairly complete and accessible summary of the results of modern astrophysics. The author of the book included a number of original ideas and hypotheses. The book won the first prize at the contest of the Society "Knowledge" for the best popular science book . The fifth edition has been revised in accordance with the author's new point of view, expressed by him in the journals "Questions of Philosophy" and "Knowledge is Power" . For a wide range of readers with secondary education, interested in current problems of modern natural science .