New Planet, We are not alone (1)

Does this incredible discovery mean we are no longer unique? Pictures are fascinating. Is their life out there?

clipped from news.aol.com NASA scientists said they discovered a fifth planet orbiting a star outside our own solar system and say the discovery suggests there are many solar systems that are, just like our own, packed with planets. The new planet is much bigger than Earth, but is a similar distance away from its sun, a star known as 55 Cancri, the astronomers said on Tuesday. The giant planets that orbit 55 Cancri, as depicted in this artist's concept, are inhospitable to life. But astronomers say it's possible water could exist on a moon of the newly discovered planet. Life could conceivably live on the surface of a moon that might be orbiting the new planet, but such a moon would be far too small to detect using current methods, the astronomers said. "The star is very much like our own sun. It has about the same mass and is about the same age as our sun," Fischer told reporters.