A handful of recent discoveries has transformed our understanding of Earth-like planets in the galaxy. Here's why Earths might be common.

NOAA/NASA

A view of Earth taken at 1:07 p.m. EDT on January 15, 2017 by the GOES-16 satellite.

• A handful of recent discoveries indicate that Earth-like planets are common in the Milky Way.
• NASA's Kepler space telescope spurred new research into planets outside our solar system.
• There could be up to 10 billion Earth-like planets in our galaxy alone - and they may be even more similar to our home planet than scientists expected.
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A growing body of research indicates that there are likely billion of Earth-like planets that we haven't yet discovered.

That's good news for astronomers seeking alien life. Since Earth is our only example of a life-bearing world, scientists try to pinpoint planets like ours when they search for life elsewhere.

That's what NASA's Kepler space telescope set out to do. Kepler scanned the skies from 2009 to 2018, and it found over 4,000 planets outside our solar system. A dozen or so of these planets seem like prime real estate for life.

Kepler's data has produced a growing body of research that indicates there are likely billions more Earth-like planets that we haven't discovered.

Here's why scientists are starting to think planets like Earth might be common.