] The star is like our sun and just 50 light-years away. A
] light-year is the distance light travels in a year, about
] 6 trillion miles (10 trillion kilometers). Most of the
] known extrasolar planets are hundreds or thousands of
] light-years distant.
]
] The star, mu Arae, is visible under dark skies from the
] Southern Hemisphere. It harbors two other planets. One is
] Jupiter-sized and takes 650 days to make its annual trip
] around the star. The other planet, whose existence was
] confirmed with the help of the new observations, is
] farther out.
]
] The three-planet setup, with one being rocky, is unique.
]
] "It's much closer to our solar system than anything we've
] found so far," said Alan Boss, a planet-formation
] theorist at the Carnegie Institution in Washington.

Space is cool.

Earth-like planet discovered 50 light-years away