<|begin_of_text|><|begin_of_text|><|begin_of_text|>WHEN predicting which planets beyond Earth could support life, astronomers usually follow the water. Exoplanets with rocky surfaces are declared habitable if they orbit far enough from their star to potentially host oceans.
But as our planetary collection grows, and<wm> considering factors such as the mass of the potential host star and orbital conditions, the possibilities expand exponentially. We may soon find another habitable exoplanet similar in water content to Earth.
**The search for exoplanets with water and rocky bodies began long ago, in the mid 1990s, with the discovery of the first water-rich gas giant planet, Beta Pictoris b.** In the mid-2000, the Kepler space telescope was launched and gave the first-ever images of</wm> the universe. The Hubble Space Telescope followed shortly thereafter, providing new data. **Most** of