When Robert Morehead was in high school in 1995, scientists discovered 51 Pegasi b the first planet to be found orbiting around a sun-like star.

That just blew my mind, said Morehead, who is now a Texas Tech instructor of physics and astronomy and director of the Preston Gott Observatory. I thought that was just so cool and how neat it was that they were able to find little balls of rock around distant stars. This may surprise you but its not the easiest thing to do and the people who found out the original techniques were pretty clever; it was pretty impressive.

Morehead felt that same excitement Wednesday after NASA announced the discovery of seven Earth-size planets orbiting closely around a single star. Three of those planets were described by NASA as being within the habitable zone.

The discovery sets a new record for greatest number of habitable-zone planets found around a single star outside our solar system, according to a NASA news release. All of these seven planets could have liquid water key to life as we know it under the right atmospheric conditions, but the chances are highest with the three in the habitable zone.

Morehead, who recently finished a dissertation on exoplanets and systems with multiple planets, said there are different ways to define habitable zone, but the key factor is liquid water.

(Habitable zone) means theyre close enough to their star that they get enough sunlight (and) theyre warm enough to have liquid water on their surface, he said. If you can have liquid water on the surface, (thats) one ingredient we think is absolutely necessary for life. Were not exactly sure, but all life on Earth has to have liquid water. Life can live in a hot spring or down in the bottom of a salt lake or stuff like that, but the one thing that it absolutely has to have is liquid water.

The latest discovery means scientists are one step closer to answering the question: Is there life outside of Earth?

Kind of the big picture what does this mean for life, the universe and everything (is that) every time we get a result like this, its looking more and more solid that theres probably a lot of potential real estate in the galaxy, Morehead said. That leads to all kinds of interesting questions.

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