Astronomers already knew there were lots of planets in the galaxy but the recent discovery of hundreds of new ones threw up something extraordinary: a star with five planets inside their sun’s habitable zone.
They call the system Kepler-11, after the space telescope that found it. The planets are all larger than the Earth, and we don’t know if they’re capable of supporting life, but to see so many in the “Goldilocks zone” (not to close to their star, not too far away) is a boost to the idea that there is life out there.
The Kepler space telescope has so far observed 156,000 stars and identified over 1,100 possible planets. Watch more on YouTube: url.ie/941a
