European researchers have announced that they have discovered three massive Earth-like planets in a nearby solar system, as well as two other solar systems with smaller planets.  They presented their findings at a conference in France and suggested that Earth-like planets may be very common.

The three massive “Earths” orbit a star which is slightly smaller than our Sun.  These new planets are much bigger than Earth.  One of the planets is 4.2 times the mass of the Earth, another is 6.7 times and the third planet is 9.4 times.  Unlike our planet, these orbit around their star at extreme speeds.  One of the planets takes only 4 days to revolve around it’s star, another takes 10 days, and the slowest takes about 20 days.  The solar system is approximately 42 light years away.  A light year is roughly 6 trillion miles.