UK researchers have confirmed the existence of a “super Earth” located 20 light-years away that could reveal the existence of extraterrestrial beings.

Found by Dr Michael Cretignier of the University of Oxford, the planet has a mass six times greater than Earth's and orbits in a "habitable zone" of a star similar to the sun.

Earth’ planet that may be suitable for life - The exoplanet, which has been named HD 20794 d, orbits in the ‘habitable zone’ of a nearby star similar to our sun.

A planet that may support alien life has been discovered less than 20 light-years away from Earth - and it's believed to house water too, according to the research team that found it

The study of exoplanets has come a long way since the first detection of a planet orbiting a star other than the Sun in 1995. This groundbreaking discovery, achieved through the radial velocity (RV) technique,

Thirty years after the discovery of the first exoplanet, astronomers have detected more than 7,000 of them in our galaxy. But there are still billions more to be discovered. At the same time, exoplanetologists have begun to take an interest in their characteristics,

The exoplanet – a planet outside our solar system – was spotted by Oxford University scientists orbiting in the ‘habitable zone’ of a nearby star similar to our sun, 20 li

With the discovery of a new "super-Earth," astronomers are hoping it could help answer one of the biggest questions in science: Are we alone in the universe? Super-Earths aren't typically much like our Earth in terms of habitability or composition.