Astronomers have said they have discovered a fifth planet orbiting a sun-like star 41 light years away, making it the first planetary quintet outside our solar system.
The newfound planet joins four others circling the nearby star 55 Cancri in the constellation Cancer.
Although it resides in the star's so-called habitable zone, a place where liquid water and mild temperatures should exist, it is more like Saturn than Earth and therefore not likely to support life.
Still, scientists have not ruled out the possibility of finding an Earth-like planet within this system as technology improves.
The other planets in the 55 Cancri system were discovered between 1996 and 2004.
The innermost planet is believed to resemble Neptune while the most distant is thought to be Jupiter-like.
Scientists have detected some 250 exoplanets, or planets orbiting a star other than the sun.
The 55 Cancri star holds the record for number of confirmed planets.
Only one other star is known to have four planets, while several others have three or less.
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