WASHINGTON NASA on Wednesday confirmed a bonanza of 715 newly discovered planets outside our solar system. Scientists using the planet-hunting Kepler telescope pushed the number of planets discovered in the galaxy to about 1,700. Twenty years ago, astronomers had not found any planets circling stars other than the ones revolving around our sun.

"We almost doubled just today the number of planets known to humanity," said NASA planetary scientist Jack Lissauer in a teleconference, calling it "the big mother lode."

Although Wednesday's announcements were about big numbers, they also were about implications for life behind those big numbers.

The new planets are in systems like ours where multiple planets circle a star. The 715 planets came from looking at just 305 stars. They were nearly all in size closer to Earth than gigantic Jupiter. Four of those exoplanets orbit their stars in "habitable zones" where it is not too hot or not too cold for liquid water, which is crucial for life to exist.

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NASA announces "mother lode" of 715 newly discovered planets