When a man meets catastrophe on the road, he looks in his purse, but a woman looks in her mirror.

In 2002 Turnbull developed the HabCat along with Jill Tarter a catalog of potentially habitable stellar systems. The first will form the basis of SETI radio searches with the Allen Telescope Array (Beta Canum Venaticorum HD 10307 HD 211415 18 Scorpii and 51 Pegasi). In 2006 Turnbull drew up two shortlists of just five stars each.

Margaret Carol Turnbull is an American astronomer. The following year Turnbull went on to further identify 30 particularly suitable stars from the 5000 in the HabCat list that are within 100 light years of Earth.