Earth Like Planet Found Next Door, Scientists and NASA Craft Discovers Similarities Outside Solar System

A rocky earth like planet has been found 4.4 light years or 23.5 trillion miles away. The NASA Keplar spacecraft collected data while surveying space and spotted this newly discovered planet to be very similar in size to our planet. It is located in another solar system, Alpha Centauri system and orbits a smaller sized sun called Alpha Centauri B. Even the year on the planet is only 3 Earth days longer.

However, that's where the similarities stop. The location of the planet is 25 times closer to its sun compared to our planet's proximity to our sun, which means it's baking hot at 1,200 Celsius. That means that it is not capable of life.

Though this discovery does not seem to be as "earth like" as we would expect, but it is a step towards discovering more similar solar systems and planets outside of our current solar system.

Previous studies have suggested there are usually other planets inside the same system when one planet is discovered.

"I think the capabilities of new telescopes means that the detection of an ETI (extraterrestrial intelligence) is more likely in the next few decades, than it was in the last," Mike Garrett, general director of Astron, the Netherlands Institute for Radio Astronomy said to Reuters.

Reuters also reports:

Earlier this year, Xavier Bonfils of the Institute of Planetology and Astrophysics in Grenoble estimated there could be tens of billions of rocky planets in our galaxy alone with the right temperature to support life.

More exploration will continue as spacecrafts and newer technology opens new discoveries.