Astronomers have found a new planet which is the closest yet outside our solar system and just an astronomical stone's throw away - at four light years.
Researchers say the planet is too close to its sun to support life, with a surface emperature estimated at 1,200 degrees.
Previous studies suggest when one planet is discovered orbiting a sun, usually there are also others in the same system.
The new Earth-sized planet, announced in science journal Nature by Stephane Udry and Xavier Dumusque at the Geneva Observatory, orbits one of the suns in Alpa Centauri, roughly 25 trillion miles away.
"It's a landmark discovery because it's very low mass and it's our closest neighbour," said Udry. Commenting on the find, University of California astronomer Greg Laughlin said: "This is our back yard, so to find out that planet formation occurred there is just extraordinary."
Since the discovery of the first exoplanets - those outside our solar system - in the early 1990s, more than 800 have been found. This one, however, is the closest to Earth.
Reuters