The planet is believed to be too hot to sustain Earth-type life, but could consist of 75 per cent water.

Evidence suggests it has an atmosphere, and astronomers believe it to be more Earth-like than any ”exoplanet” found outside the Solar System so far.

The planet is classified as a ‘’super-Earth”, half way in size between small rocky planets such the Earth and ice giants similar to Uranus and Neptune.

Although its parent star is a dim ”red dwarf” 3,000 times less bright than the Sun, it hugs the star so closely that its surface temperature is an oven-hot 200C.

At a distance of just 1.3 million miles, the planet makes one year-long orbit of the star every 38 hours.

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