Super-Habitable World May Exist Near Earth

Earth is the only known example of an inhabited planet in the universe, so the search for alien life has focused on Earth-like worlds.

But what if there are alien worlds that are even more habitable than Earth-like planets? These so-called "superhabitable" worlds are intriguing astrobiologists such as René Heller at McMaster University in Hamilton, Canada, who recently co-published a paper in the Jan. 16 issue of Astrobiology examining the prospects for habitable worlds that are very unlike Earth. One such planet might even exist around the stellar system closest to Earth Alpha Centauri B.