"European researchers said on Monday they discovered a batch of three "super-Earths" orbiting a nearby star, and two other solar systems with small planets as well.
They said their findings, presented at a conference in France, suggest that Earth-like planets may be very common.
"Does every single star harbour planets and, if yes, how many?" asked Michel Mayor of Switzerland's Geneva Observatory. "We may not yet know the answer, but we are making huge progress towards it," Mayor said in a statement.
The trio of planets orbit a star slightly less massive than our Sun, 42 light years away towards the southern constellations Doradus and Pictor.
The planets are bigger than Earth Ð one is 4.2 times the mass, one is 6.7 times and the third is 9.4 times. And they circle their star on faster, closer orbits than Earth, which takes 365 days to orbit the Sun Ð one whizzes around in just 4 days, one takes 10 days and the slowest takes 20 days."


A