New planet 'may be home to aliens' Excited astronomers have discovered a new planet that could be home to alien life, they revealed tonight. The world is orbiting a nearby star like the Sun in its so-called "habitable zone" - just the right distance for liquid water to exist. A Nasa artist's impression of the 55 Cancri solar system. It is the fifth planet to be identified in orbit around the star 55 Cancri, a star very similar in type and age to our own Sun, making it a virtual twin of our own solar system."
The planet is 72.5 million miles from 55 Cancri, a little less than the distance of the Earth from the Sun, but at an ideal distance for the warmth that life as we know it would need to exist. Computers had previously identified the star as an ideal candidate to house Earth's twin.
Nov 21, 2007 1:45pm
