DHAKA: Nasa’s Kepler telescope has discovered more than 100 Earth-sized planets orbiting alien stars.

It has also detected nine small planets within so-called habitable zones, where conditions are favorable for liquid water - and potentially life, reports the BBC.

The finds are contained within a catalogue of 1,284 new planets detected by Kepler - which more than doubles the previous tally.

Nasa said it was the biggest single announcement of new exoplanets.

Space agency scientists discussed the new findings in a teleconference on Tuesday.

Statistical analyses of Kepler’s expanding sample of worlds help astronomers understand how common planets like our own might be.

Dr Natalie Batalha, Kepler mission scientist at Nasa’s Ames Research Center in California, said calculations suggested there could be more than 10 billion potentially habitable planets in the Milky Way.

‘About 24% of the stars harbor potentially habitable planets that are smaller than about 1.6 times the size of the Earth. That’s a number that we like because it's below that size that we estimate planets are likely to be rocky,’ said Dr Batalha.

‘If you ask yourself where is the next habitable planet likely to be, it’s within about 11 light-years, which is very close.’

BDST: 2152 HRS, MAY 11, 2016
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