In the relatively new science of planet hunting, no find is more prized than

finding a planet like ours, one that could support life. As of late August 2007,
almost 250 exoplanets -- planets orbiting besides our sun -- had been found
[source: BBC News]. The announcement of new planets has become almost routine;
some don't even make it into the news. But we do periodically hear about
exoplanets that seem similar to Earth or that scientists speculate may hold liquid
water, one of the key ingredients for carbon-based life. How many of these Earth-
like planets are out there, and are they really like Earth, or do we just hope
they are? In this article, we'll take a look at some potential Earths and what
they may tell us about the future of planet hunting.

Space Tourism and Space Exploration Image Gallery

artist's depiction of another Earth

Image courtesy NASA
This artist's depiction shows a possible Earth-like planet
with a rocky surface, oceans and an atmosphere. See more
space tourism images.

In August 2007, scientists announced the discovery of a star which might have once
had an Earth-like planet orbiting it. The star was a white dwarf called GD 362,
and it's 150 light years from Earth, still within our galaxy. While no Earth-like
planets appear to orbit the star now, the presence of asteroid debris can tell us
something about a planet that likely once orbited the star.

The debris, which came from an asteroid that was once 125 miles long, showed
little carbon and high levels of calcium and iron. That means the rocky material
is much like the moon and the rock that makes up the Earth. The presence of this
familiar material, scientists say, implies that an Earth-like planet may have
orbited the star millions of years ago, before it became a white dwarf. The star
also has rings similar to Saturn's, and some of the ring material may be from
planets and other objects that were torn apart by the white dwarf's gravity.

GD 362's diameter is about half of the Earth's, but its mass is about that of the
sun, making GD 362 far more dense than our planet. However, GD 362 started out as
a star like the sun in our solar system. But when the star used up its fuel, it
swelled up into a red giant and then ejected its outer shell. The center of that
star then transformed into a white dwarf, at once very hot (more than 100,000
Kelvin) and very small. A white dwarf retains about half of its mass but becomes
incredibly dense because of its small size. Our sun should become a white dwarf in
about five billion years. The process will destroy Mercury, Venus and possibly
Earth.

So how many other Earth-like planets are out there (or were out there)? No one
knows, but many scientists believe that it's inevitable that other Earths will be
found. One NASA scientist told BBC News that some scientists believe that nearly
every star has Earth-like planets orbiting it [source: BBC News]. Of course,
excitement around finding these other Earths is based on the idea that they may
contain alien life or even, centuries from now, allow for far-flung human space
colonies -- before our star explodes and destroys the Earth.

Other Possible Earths

One of the main goals of planet hunting is to find exoplanets that have the
characteristics of Earth and may consequently contain life. One of the keys to
this search is the Goldilocks Zone. Also called the habitable zone or life zone,
the Goldilocks Zone is an area of space in which a planet is just the right
distance from its home star so that its surface is neither too hot nor too cold.
That means that the planet could possibly host liquid water.

Earth-like planet
Image courtesy NASA
In surveying potential candidates for "new Earths," astronomers
look for traces of biological activity, such as the presence of oxygen.

Few planets have been found in the Goldilocks Zone, but in April 2007, European
astronomers announced the discovery of one. It was also, at that point, the most
Earth-like planet ever found. The planet, called Gilese 581c, is 12,000 miles in
diameter, or not much larger than Earth (8,000-mile diameter). It orbits a massive
red star called Gilese 581, located in the Libra constellation, 20.5 light years
from Earth. Gilese 581c orbits its star very closely, completing an orbit in just
13 Earth-days. This short orbit would make a planet too hot for life, except that
Gilese 581's surface temperature is 1/50th that of our sun.

Because it lies in the Goldilocks Zone, Gilese 581c's surface temperature ranges
from an estimated 32 degrees Fahrenheit to 102 degrees Fahrenheit. The research
team that discovered it believes it has a developed atmosphere. The planet might
not only have water -- it might be entirely covered by oceans.

Gilese 581c does have some things working against it. Its gravity is about twice
as strong as Earth's, and it receives significant doses of radiation from its
star. Both could inhibit life from developing. Even so, Gilese 581c is exciting
not only for its Earth-like conditions, but also because of its relative proximity
to Earth and its location in the elusive Goldilocks Zone.

As more powerful and precise telescopes go into space, future efforts will involve
examining exoplanets' atmospheres for traces of oxygen and methane and looking for
rocky planets that lie in the Goldilocks Zone. Scientists are also increasing
their use of automated telescopes that are programmed to look for minuscule
variations in a star's brightness caused by an orbiting planet passing in front of
it. With a rapidly increasing pace of discovery of exoplanets and a practically
infinite number of stars in the universe, many other exciting discoveries are
ahead of us.

The ideal discovery would be a planet similar in composition to Earth that lies
within the Goldilocks Zone and orbits a stable star. But it's important to keep in
mind that popular depictions of extraterrestrial life are likely wrong. Some life
forms may be no more advanced than bacteria. Others may be highly advanced but
unrecognizable, a thought that has caused some scientists to advocate the search
for so-called weird life.