Earth-sized exoplanet discovered in habitable zone

NASA has discovered a new planet that may be able to support life.

Astrophysicist, Dr Sara Webb told Today while thousands of exoplanets have been discovered in the past, finding one in a habitable zone "is a really big deal".

"Finding ones where water exists and finding one the same size as Earth is rare," Dr Webb said.

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NASA's Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) discovered the exoplanet which has been labelled TOI 700 e.

It is the second Earth-sized world discovered and orbits a red dwarf star about 100 light years away in the Dorado constellation.

While Dr Webb said the discovery is an exciting one, it is roughly 946 trillion kilometres from Earth so sadly, it won't be visited in our lifetime.

"We won't get there any time soon, but it is close enough we can use the biggest telescopes to study it further," she said.

"Hopefully this system will be observed by the James Webb telescope and we will get more information about if the planet has atmosphere and potentially water."

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With TOI 700 e's proximity to the star it orbits if liquid water runs on it's surface, Dr Webb said life may already exist on it.

"Nothing's impossible, especially when it comes to the universe," she said.

"Life likes to form where there is water so it is definitely not impossible but we can't say for sure."

See what else Dr Webb had to say in the video above

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