Over the past few years, the search for extraterrestrial life has unearthed a host of newly discovered planets in the habitable zone. Most of these are so far away that we are unlikely to get even a glimpse of them in our lifetime, but, assuming society continues to advance, our descendants will.

If we’re lucky, on some of those planets they may discover true extraterrestrial life. If – probably more likely – they don’t, they may instead use them as the bases for some of humanity’s first colonies beyond the solar system. Here we look at some of the planets that could host the human race’s future homes.