(MCT) — LOS ANGELES — Scientists have spent years hunting for Earth-like planets orbiting stars elsewhere in the galaxy. Now they have found one that’s a relative stone’s-throw away.

The so-called exoplanet — a planet beyond our solar system — is circling Alpha Centauri B, just 4.37 light-years from Earth. A mere 3.7 million miles from the star’s surface, it is far too hot to support life. But there’s a chance that another planetary sibling may reside in the system’s so-called habitable zone, where liquid water could exist, scientists say.