Australian astronomers discover potentially habitable ‘Earth-like’ planet 150 light years away

Australian astronomers have discovered a potentially habitable “Earth-like” planet located 150 light years away.

The candidate planet, named, HD 137010 b, is nearly the exact same size as the Earth and has a similar orbital period as our home, with its year lasting 355 days.

The candidate is also a similar distance from the Sun as the Earth, but receives nearly 70 per cent less light, making it slightly more “cool” than our planet.

However, the surface temperature is estimated to reach below -70 C in some areas - with its climate more similar to Mars.

The discovery was made by an international team, led by University of Southern Queensland researcher Dr Alexander Venner and used data from NASA’s 2017 Kepler extended K2 mission.

Researchers say findings place it near “the outer edge of the habitable zone,” where liquid water could potentially exist under the right conditions.

The findings were published in the Astrophysical Journal Letters on Thursday.

“This is the first planet candidate with Earth-like radius and orbital properties transiting a Sun-like star bright enough for substantial follow-up observations,” the study says.

One of the researchers, University of Southern Queensland’s Dr Chelsea Huang, told the ABC the discovery is “really exciting”.

“Since the discovery of the first exoplanet 30 years ago, we’ve always tried to find Earth’s twin,” Dr Huang said.

“We haven’t found that yet. But we are a step closer.”

Lead researcher Dr Venner, said there was a 50 per cent chance the candidate planet was habitable.

The planet has only been spotted passing in front of its star once and for this reason it is officially called a “ planet candidate”.

Follow up observations will aim to verify if HD 137010 b is in fact a confirmed planet.