The discovery of an Earth-like planet outside our Solar System has got scientists really excited and wondering if there could be life on it. Water is one of the main things needed to support life and they think the planet’s got rocks and oceans on it. Although the planet is 1.5 times bigger than Earth, it is more Earth-like than any other known to man. A team of European astronomers found the planet 20.5 light years away or about 189 million million kilometres!

The planet orbits a star called Gliese 581, which is cooler and dimmer than our Sun. The Gliese 581 super-Earth, as the planet is being called, is in what scientists call the ‘Goldilocks Zone’ where temperatures are just right for life to have a chance to exist. That makes this find exciting.