Astronomers from the University of California, Irvine have discovered a planet orbiting within the “habitable zone” of its host star, a region where temperatures may allow liquid water to exist on the surface. Because water is essential for all known forms of life, this finding raises the possibility that the planet could have life-supporting conditions.

Located in a relatively nearby area of the Milky Way Galaxy, the planet appears to be rocky like Earth but several times more massive, earning it the classification of a “super-Earth.” The team of UC Irvine scientists and their collaborators describe their analysis of the planet in a new paper published in The Astronomical Journal.

“We have found so many exoplanets at this point that discovering a new one is not such a big deal,” said co-author Paul Robertson, UC Irvine associate professor of physics & astronomy. “What makes this especially valuable is that its host star is close by, at just about 18 light-years away. Cosmically speaking, it’s practically next door.”