Astronomers believe mysterious signals - previously dismissed as stellar bursts - are coming from an Earth-like planet . The Gliese 581d planet has conditions that could support life , and is likely to be a rocky world , twice the size of Earth . Signals from the planet were initially discovered in 2010 , but last year dismissed as noise from distant stars . Scroll down for video . Astronomers believe mysterious 'alien signals ' - previously dismissed as stellar bursts - are in fact coming from an Earth-like planet . The Gliese 581d planet was initially discovered in 2010 ( artist 's impression pictured ) Now , a further study claims that the 2014 research was based on 'inadequate analyses of the data ' and that Gliese 581d does exist . The planet was initially discovered in 2010 . It was the first Earth-like planet found in the 'Goldilocks'-zone around another star . But soon after the discovery , a group of scientists said the signals thought to be from a planet were in fact simply magnetic bursts from stars . The latest study claims that the stellar bursts research was based on 'inadequate analyses of the data ' . They said the method is suitable for large planets , but the technique is unable to find small planets like GJ 581d . Last year , Pennsylvania State University researchers said Gliese 581d - and its companion Gliese 581g - were simply a trick of the light caused by magnetic bursts from a local star 22 light-years away . The new British research , however , argues the method used by the Pennsylvania team was only suitable for large planets , and that it could miss small ones like GJ 581d . The study , by Queen Mary University , London and the University of Hertfordshire , claims to use a more accurate model on the existing data . 'The existence ( or not ) of GJ 581d is significant because it was the first Earth-like planet discovered in the 'Goldilocks'-zone around another star and it is a benchmark case for the Doppler technique , ' said lead author , Dr Guillem Anglada-Escudé . 'There are always discussions among scientists about the ways we interpret data but I 'm confident that GJ 581d has been in orbit around Gliese 581 all along . 'In any case , the strength of their statement was way too strong . 'If their way to treat the data had been right , then some planet search projects at several ground-based observatories would need to be significantly revised as they are all aiming to detect even smaller planets . The Gliese 581d planet is likely to be a rocky world , twice the size of Earth . Pictured is an artist 's impression of the planetary orbits of the Gliese 581 system compared to those of our own solar system . According to one of Nasa 's top planet hunters , we will find a planet with oceans like Earth in the next 15 years . Dr John Mather is an astrophysicist at the Nasa Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland , and the senior project scientist on the James Webb Space Telescope ( JWST ) . The giant telescope will be used to find the first bright objects that formed in the universe , figure out how galaxies evolved and find out how stars formed . But perhaps most excitingly , it will study Earth-like worlds beyond our solar system . 'We hope to find a planet that 's Earth-like and measure its atmosphere to work out if it has enough water on it to make an ocean , ' he said in an interview with . ' I think that will be in around ten to 15 years from now . 'In that time we might be able to say : ' I can see that star over there . [ Its planet ] has a climate that 's like Earth and it might have life on it . ' 'One needs to be more careful with these kind of claims ' GJ 581d is believed to be the first planet outside our solar system in the Goldilocks zone around its star – an area not too hot and not too cold for life . To find Gliese 581d , University of California , Santa Cruz astronomers originally looked for subtle changes in light caused by the gravity of an orbiting planet tugging back and forth on the star . The strength of the tugging , they believed , showed them a planet was about three times as massive as Earth . At the time , the discovery of Earth-like planets around Gliese 581 caught the public imagination . Documentary-maker RDF and social-networking site Bebo used a radio telescope in Ukraine to send a powerful focused beam of information - 500 messages from the public in the form of radio waves - to Gliese 581 . And the Australian science minister at the time organised 20,000 users of Twitter to send messages towards the distant solar system in the wake of the discoveries . Other exoplanets have previously been doubted , most notably Alpha Centauri Bb , the closest Earth-sized world to us , which some scientists claim could just be noise in the data . Gliese 581 ( the bright star shown in the centre ) , which is 22 light-years away , has three other confirmed planets , none of which lie within its habitable zone .
Gliese 581d is in star 's habitable zone and may be suitable for humans . Found in 2014 , it was later dismissed as stellar bursts and not a planet . Now , scientists believe earlier analysis was based on inaccurate data . They say planet does exist and may provide hope for finding alien life .