Astronomers discover Earth-like planet, say there may be more

The search for a home, away from home will never end. Even as we continue to live our lives on planet Earth, there are people who continue to search for other habitable zones. Now, Time confirms that a team of astronomers from UC Santa Cruz, hailing from Germany, England, Australia and Chile have stumbled upon, what they're referring to as "super-Earth' planet, may just take us a step closer to finding an Earth-like planet. The discovered planet, called GJ667Cc was found orbiting a star in its vicinity. Not only that, astronomers have predicted that this may just be one among billions in the Milky W Way.

Can we call it home? (Image credit: Carnegie Institution / UCSC)

The latest discovery is at least 4.5 times bigger in size than Earth. Reportedly, the planet exists 22 lightyears away from Earth and it orbits its star every 28 days. The planet is known to lie, in what is being referred to as the star's habitable zone. A habitable zone is a place where the existing conditions are just perfect for life sustenance. Astronomers, according to this report also suspect that the GJ667Cc may have been made out of earth-like rock, instead of gas. Surely, this isn't the first time astronomers have set out to discover something like this. Sometime last year, reportedly Vogt and Paul Butler, of Carnegie, who're a part of the current project, too, had reported about the existence of a similar habitable planet, called Gliese 581g, but seemingly nothing came out of it and the news fizzled out. But, this, they say, is a "more clear-cut case".

As quoted in this report, Steve Vogt, of UC Santa Cruz stated, "I think it's going to be pretty historic. We've been gnawing at the bone of an earthlike planet in the habitable zone for years now, and I think we're just about there." Now, that he believes we're almost there, the coming times should only bring more details about our potential "home".