Astronomers have discovered over 50 new planets outside of our solar system. Of these, sixteen have a similar mass to planet Earth. These astounding findings show that more than half of the stars that are similar to our sun possess planets which are not as large as Saturn.

One planet, HD 85512b, has 3.6 times the mass of earth and is 36 light years away. Astronomers list this planet as a "super-earth." Super-earths are worlds in habitable zones which can have up to 10 times the mass of earth. Scientists speculate that these super-earths could be more supportive of life than our own planet.

These findings came from a team using HARPS, High Accuracy Radial Velocity Planet Searcher, located at the La Silla Observatory in Chile.