According to a new study, it seems that Earth might not be the only planet having conditions suitable for life, as in the Milky Way there are many other rocky planets that can sustain life just like Earth does. Researchers said that more than half of the Sun-like stars in our galaxy could have similar planetary systems, which means that there may be life out there, in the outer parts of our solar system!

The brand new theory was presented recently at the American Association for the Advancement of Science in Boston. One of its supporters, an astronomer from the University of Arizona called Michael Meyer, said that he believed that there might be a wide number of planets similar to Earth around Sun-like stars.

"Our observations suggest that between 20% and 60% of Sun-like stars have evidence for the formation of rocky planets not unlike the processes we think led to planet Earth," astronomer Michael Meyer said at the American Association for the Advancement of Science. “That is very exciting,” Meyer also added.

Meyer and his team used NASA’s Spitzer space telescope to look at different groups of stars having masses similar to our Sun, and they discovered dust around stars in some of the newest groups they had been surveying. Space researchers believe dust is a by-product of rocky debris colliding and merging to form planets.

NASA is to launch a new mission (Kepler) next year in order to search for Earth-sized and smaller planets.