In a galaxy far, far away lies another planet that has similar characteristics to our own.

This earth-like planet, Kepler-452b, was recently discovered in the constellation Cygnus that is approximately 1,400 light-years away. NASA's spacecraft, Kepler, sent back pictures of this planet that has been called, "Earth's bigger, older cousin."

It took NASA's spacecraft 20 years to find this planet, which is a lot like ours for several reasons. While this planet is about 60 percent bigger than Earth, its placement in the orbit makes it a very habitable zone. The location in the orbit makes it possible to have water existing at the surface, which is vital for any kind of life to exist. It also orbits its star once every 385 days, which is about three weeks longer than Earth.

The idea of life beyond our own is exciting and groundbreaking. NASA says there are three ways to know for sure if there is life on this planet, or any planet.

First, is to go and see it for yourself. This way is particularly difficult since most planets are so far away and our technology is not that advanced yet.

The second way is to build big telescopes and analyze the light bouncing off of the planet. Unfortunately, the host star is too dim to allow any kind of examination with either the Hubble Space Telescope or one like it.

The third way is to hunt for signals that could signal intelligence. And that is exactly what NASA is doing. Researchers at SETI Institute, located in Northern California, are using the Allen Telescope Array, a collection of 42 radio heads, to study the planet and look for any radio signals

Researchers at SETI have sent over 2 billion frequency bands to Kepler-452b through the array, but nothing has been picked up yet. They do plan on sending and trying to pick up on any type of broadcasting for a long time because they are confident that the concept of extraterrestrial life may be a realistic one.

NASA is also planning on trying to figure out the planet's mass and density because that will give them a big hint as to whether it is a rocky world, grassy world or a water world.

Whatever kind of world it is, I think we can all say that this discovery alone, regardless of life being there or not, is huge. But, if there is life on that planet, I would just like to say...