Astronomers have detected low-mass, rocky planets around a star that's at least 11.2 billion years old, or more than twice the age of our own solar system.

Astronomers from University of Birmingham observed KOI-3158, a pale yellowish-orange star that lies some 117 light years away in the constellation Lyra.

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Data gathered from NASA's Kepler Space Telescope revealed the ancient metal-poor star harbors five terrestrial-mass planets whose origin dates back to the dawn of the Milky Way.

Discovering terrestrial-type planets around such an old, metal-poor star may have staggering implications.

"This is confirmation that earth-sized planets have formed throughout most of the galaxy's history," said Tiago Campante, an astronomer at the University of Birmingham (U.K.), and the paper's lead author.

Kepler used stellar photometry to look for periodic dips in starlight because of the transits of planets across the face of their stars. As a result, astronomers were able to conclude these five new rocky planets orbit their parent star in less than 10 days. These planets' orbits are less than one-fifth Mercury's distance from the Sun, making them extremely hot.

It goes to show these planet's sizes and potential make-up seem eerily akin to our own inner solar system. The system's three intermediate planets are the size of Mars and the outermost planet is slightly smaller than Venus. The innermost planet is the size of Mercury.

The new findings will likely help ignite a paradigm shift of how planet hunters and astrobiologists view terrestrial planet formation within the Milky Way.

TagsNASA, Kepler space telescope, space exploration, KOI-3158, constellation of Lyra, star constellation, Milky Way, planets