A newly discovered planet orbiting a nearby star could be the closest world to Earth providing a comfortable home for life.

The Earth-sized planet, named Ross 128b, is just 11 light years away and thought to have a "mild" climate with temperatures ranging between an icy minus 60C and balmy 20C.

That could mean it has oceans and lakes in which life may have evolved.

But the best news for any plants or animals living on Ross 128b is the planet's peaceful parent star.

Like many other exoplanets, it orbits close to a dim and cool "red dwarf" at a distance 20 times less than that between the sun and Earth.

Red dwarfs have tightly bound "habitable zones" - the narrow temperature belts where surface water can exist as a liquid - but are also prone to deadly eruptions of ultraviolet radiation and X-rays.

Habitable zone planets around most red dwarfs are likely to be severely irradiated, causing many scientists to doubt that life could survive on them.

However, Ross 128b's star is much less volatile than typical red dwarfs. The planet's surface receives only 1.38 times more radiation than the Earth, scientists believe.