More than 1,200 new planets discovered through Nasa's Kepler space telescope

More than doubling the number of confirmed planets orbiting alien stars, astronomers said that the discovery is a step toward finding Earth-like planets

Nasa added more than 1,200 new planets to the known galaxy on Tuesday, more than doubling the number of confirmed planets orbiting alien stars.

Revealing data from the Kepler space telescope, the astronomers said that the discovery is a step toward finding Earth-like planets. "This gives us hope that somewhere out there, around a star much like ours, we can eventually discover another Earth," said Ellen Stofan, Nasa's chief scientist.