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From Sky News

An Earth-like planet that may be capable of supporting extra-terrestrial life has been discovered by astronomers.

Gliese 581c: Supporting life?Gliese 581c is not much bigger than our own planet and has the right temperature to allow liquid water on its surface - considered a must for supporting life as we know it.

But the new world is 20.5 light years away, which would take astronauts almost five billion years to reach in the fastest spaceship available now.

They say the really exciting discovery is that the planet is inside the 'habitable zone' of its parent star - Gliese 581 - the narrow orbit in which temperatures are neither too hot nor too cold for surface water to exist as a liquid.

"On the treasure map of the Universe, one would be tempted to mark this planet with an X," said Xavier Delfosse, a member of the European discovery team.

Gliese 581 is much smaller and colder than the Sun, so even though the planet is 14 times closer to the star than the Earth is to the Sun, it lies in a region where rivers, lakes and oceans are possible.

Models predict that the planet should be either rocky - like our Earth - or covered with oceans.

Given its size and location, it is also likely to have an atmosphere.

Gliese 581 is certain to be a key target for future missions dedicated to the search for extra-terrestrial life.

By 2020 at least one space telescope should be in orbit with the capability of detecting signs of life on planets light years from Earth.

And scientists at the SETI (Search for Extra-Terrestrial Life) Institute in the US are understood to be turning their radio telescopes towards the planet.