Newfound exoplanet Kepler-62f is imagined in an illustration. The shining star to the right is Kepler-62e. Illustration courtesy T. Pyle, Caltech/NASA

Planet hunters are significantly closer to their goal of finding an "Earth twin" with the discovery of two planets similar in size to our own, astronomers with NASA's Kepler mission announced today.

The planets, described at a NASA press conference, orbit a sun that's cooler than ours but is at the right distance to allow water to remain liquid, which is considered essential for a planet to support life.

And because of their sizes and orbits, the newfound planets are likely either rocky—like Earth—or watery, NASA scientists said. The two planets are located 1,200 light-years away in a five-planet system orbiting a star dubbed Kepler-62.

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2013/04/130418-exoplanets-earth-planets-science-space-kepler-nasa/