WASHINGTON NASAs planet-hunting telescope has discovered two planets that seem ideal for some sort of life to flourish. And they are just the right size and in just the right place.

One is toasty, the other chilly.

The distant duo are the best candidates for habitable planets that astronomers have found, said William Borucki, chief scientist for NASAs Kepler telescope.

And it has astronomers thinking similar planets that are just about right for life Goldilocks planets might be common in the universe.

The discoveries, published online Thursday in the journal Science, mark a milestone in the search for where life could exist.

In the four years Kepler has been trailing Earths orbit, the telescope has found 122 exoplanets, or planets outside our solar system.

In the past, those planets havent fit all the criteria that would make them right for life of any kind, from microbes to man.

Many planets arent in the habitable zone where its not too hot and not too cold for liquid water.

And until now, the few found in that ideal zone were just too big. Those are likely to be gas balls like Neptune and not suitable for life.

Similarly, any Earth-size planets werent in the right place near their stars, Borucki said.

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NASA finds planet pair just right for life