There are now a total of 50 exoplanets far beyond our solar system, that are of interest to astronomers and astrophysicists across the globe

In the search for exoplanets, the key goal is to find worlds that sit in the habitable “Goldilocks Zone,” a region that is neither too close nor too far from a star, but just close enough to sustain liquid water.

For years considered the habitable zone to be a “remarkably small” portion of space. But research in the field proves the conditions needed to sustain life are much broader than initially presumed.

The US space agency said: “In the past 30 years our knowledge of life in extreme environments has exploded.

“Scientists have found microbes in nuclear reactors, microbes that love acid, microbes that swim in boiling-hot water. 

“Whole ecosystems have been discovered around deep sea vents where sunlight never reaches and the emerging vent-water is hot enough to melt lead.

“The Goldilocks Zone is bigger than we thought.”

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