The amount of cosmic real estate just skyrocketed, with the discovery of 50 planets beyond our solar system bolstering the quest to find alien life.
The discovery of the planets was announced yesterday by astronomers with the European Southern Observatory. They comprise the largest group simultaneously revealed and bring the tally of so-called extra-solar planets to nearly 600.
"This is good news for those hoping to find some company in the galaxy," said Seth Shostak, senior astronomer with the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence Institute in San Francisco, California.
The discovery team leader, astronomer Michel Mayor of Switzerland's Geneva University, said 16 of the planets were "super-Earths" - with a mass of one to 10 times that of Earth.
Speaking at the Extreme Solar Systems conference near Jackson, Wyoming, Professor Mayor said one super-Earth even orbits at the edge of the habitable zone of its star.
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