Australian astronomers have led an international study that has discovered a candidate for a "potentially habitable" Earth-sized planet within our galaxy. The planet candidate, dubbed Planet HD 137010 b, is 150 light-years away and is about 6 per cent larger than Earth. Lead author Alex Venner said there was a 50 per cent chance that Planet HD 137010 b was habitable. al)Dr Venner's love for astronomy led him to do a PhD in exoplanet research in 2022, halfway across the world in Toowoomba. "It's a really unique object that we have very few planet candidates that have similar physical parameters," Dr Venner said.