A new study supported in part by the NASA Astrobiology Institute shows that the number of potentially habitable planets in the Universe could be greater than previously thought. The study focuses on Earth-sized planets in the habitable zones of low-mass stars.

When making a conservative estimate, the researchers expect that if you looked at the ten closest small stars to Earth, you would find about four planets. Furthermore, they believe the distance to our nearest potentially habitable planet is about seven light years – half the distance of previous estimates.

The study was published in the Astrophysical Journal Letters