Astronomers have found an Earth-like exoplanet orbiting a distant white dwarf, shedding light on the possible future of our own planet. Although the exoplanet may no longer be habitable, its survival through its star’s red giant phase offers intriguing clues about Earth’s fate when the Sun eventually dies.

The first rocky planet ever spotted orbiting a burned out star called a white dwarf offers a glimpse of what may be in store for Earth billions of years from now - showing it is possible our planet might survive the death of the sun,

The discovery of an Earth-like planet 4,000 light years away in the Milky Way galaxy provides a preview of one possible fate for our planet billions of years in the future, when the sun has turned into a white dwarf,

Astronomers have discovered an Earth-like planet orbiting a white dwarf star about 4,000 light-years away. This discovery offers a potential preview of Earth’s distant future as the Sun undergoes its own transformation into a white dwarf billions of years from now.

The red giant phase is pretty crazy. The star's outer atmosphere can expand to hundreds of times its initial size; some projections of the Sun's future – due to start becoming a red giant in about 5 billion years or so – predict it could grow as large as out to the orbit of Mars, engulfing Mercury, Venus, and Earth in the process.

The search for a second Earth within the Milky Way is ongoing, but a recently discovered planet falls short of the mark.