An Earth-like planet recently spotted outside our solar system is the first that atromomers have found that could support liquid water and harbor life.

Liquid water is what astronomers look for, and the newly found planet is located at the perfect distance from its sun—just the right distance so that the water on its surface doesn’t freeze or vaporize.

The new planet is about 50% bigger than Earth and about five times more massive. It’s called Gliese 581 C, after its star, Gliese 581, a small red dwarf star that is about one-third as massive as the Sun.
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When we’re looking for extraterrestrial life, other moons may be our best bet. Among the most habitable alien worlds is Saturn’s moon Titan.

In recent years, the search for potentially habitable planets outside our solar system has increased. NASA’s Kepler space telescope, launched in 2009, has found more than 1,000 possible planets so far. BBC News quotes astronomer Dirk Schulze-Makuch as saying, "The first question is whether Earth-like conditions can be found on other worlds, since we know empirically that those conditions could harbor life."
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In a continuing search for other planets that may harbor life, re-analysis of Hubble Space Telescope images from 1998, astronomers have found evidence for two extrasolar planets that went undetected back then. Four giant planets are known to orbit the young, massive star HR 8799, which is 130 light-years away. The first three were discovered In 2007 and 2008. The fourth was spotted in 2010.
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