NASA scientists have found at least seven Earth-sized planets orbiting the same star 40 light -years away. The space agency has announced at a news conference at NASA Headquarters in Washington.

According to CNN, all the planets orbit TRAPPIST-1, a dwarf star roughly the size of Jupiter. The system is close to Earth. TRAPPIST is located in the Aquarius constellation, less than 40 light years from us.

The NASA scientist has stated that the discovery of our solar system is rare because the planets have the winning combination of being similar in size to Earth. They could have water on their surfaces and potentially support life.

Nature has reported that TRAPPIST-1, in particular, is the best candidate for supporting life. It's a bit cooler than Earth but could be suitable for the right atmosphere and enough greenhouse gasses.

The NASA scientists announced the discovery of three initial planets orbiting the same star in May. The new research increased the number to seven planets in total.

Amaury Triaud, an astronomer at the University of Cambridge said," the managed to thrive and releases gasses similar to what we have on Earth". The finding of the gas that is indicated the life on other planets also.

The planets are so close to each other and the star that there are seven of them within a space. This is five times smaller than the distance from Mercury to our sun. This proximity allows the scientists to study the planets in depth as well, about planetary systems other than our own.

The TRAPPIST system is named after the telescope in Chile with which the researchers originally spotted the exoplanets. Their existence was recently confirmed with NASA's Spitzer Telescope.

However, NASA believes that the new finding will lead new secret on other's planet. They believe that more observations of the system are sure to reveal more secrets.

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