Science & Technology

Potentially Habitable Planet Circles Nearby Star

How about leaving the control freaks here while the rest of us go colonize?

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Perhaps Earthlings aren't alone in their celestial neighborhood.

An international team of scientists has discovered at least one new habitable planet – and, considering the vastness of space, this planet is fairly close.

A planet with conditions that can sustain life was one of five orbiting a star neighboring the sun, astronomers from the United Kingdom, USA, Chile and Australia recently revealed in an official statement. The star, called Tau Ceti, was located 12 light years away.

In an interview with ABCNews.com, Steven Vogt, a professor at the University of California, Santa Cruz, said he believed there actually might be two planets in the Tau Ceti system with "conditions conducive to life" – though the official announcement described just one.