Most of the 200 or so planets discovered outside our solar system have been huge gas giants, which are of course incapable of supporting life. But this new planet, about 1.5 times the diameter and 5 times the mass of Earth, is “either rocky, like our Earth, or covered with oceans.” So in other words, it’s a lot like our Earth now, or it might be like Kevin Costner’s Earth in Water World. Together with the water, the planet’s range from its star (Gliese 581, part of the constellation Libra) puts it in a position to support life — surface temperatures are estimated to be between 0 and 40 degrees Celsius (that’s 32 and 104 degrees Fahrenheit, for the metrically challenged), extraordinarily similar to our own humble spot in the universe.

At “only” 20.5 light-years (or 123 trillion miles) away, it’s almost in the neighborhood, relatively speaking. Keep in mind our galaxy alone is 100,000 light years across, and is only one of millions. In the realm of the known universe, this new Earth-like planet is like a neighbor who lives across the street. If we’ve already found a planet that might be capable of supporting life in the 0.000000001% (if even that) of the universe within a 25 light-year radius of us, imagine what else must be out there.

Source: CNN.