Planets orbiting around the Trappists-1 star system are the most likely place to find extraterrestrials as they are the similar to Earth.
Boffins described the system as the ‘Holy Grail’ for finding alien life.
Hannah Wakeford, for Exeter University’s Physics and Astronomy department, said: “No one ever would have expected to find a system like this.
“One of these four could be a water world, one could be an exo-venus, and another could be an exo-Mars.
“It’s interesting because we have four planets that are at different distances from the star. So we can learn a little bit more about our own diverse solar system, because we’re learning about how the Trappist star has impacted its array of planets.”
At least four of the Trappist-1 planets are thought to have climates similar to Earth, where oceans could be found.
Water is a vital component to creating life and could have helped the development of alien evolution.
But, boffins said they were “far from establishing” whether life exists in the system.
“No one ever would have expected to find a system like this”Hannah Wakeford
Answers are expected, however, next year when NASA’s powerful James Webb Space Telescope is launched into orbit.
The space agency is also exploring how to transport astronauts to Mars.