Mystery as NASA calls Wednesday press conference to announce 'major' exoplanet discovery

Event will 'present new findings on planets that orbit stars other than our sun'

Raises hopes that NASA could reveal exoplanets capable of holding lifeNasa is to host a major press conference on Wednesday to reveal a 'discovery beyond our solar system'.

The space agency says the secretive event, will 'present new findings on planets that orbit stars other than our sun, known as exoplanets'.

It raises hopes that NASA could reveal details of exoplanets capable of holding life.

The event will take place on 22 February at 1pm New York time, and will be streamed live on NASA'S television station and on its website.

Although NASA has given no clue of the announcement, it has confirmed scientists from the Spitzer telescope will be present.

NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope observes transiting exoplanets in infrared wavelengths, and has helped to chart and characterize many, including puzzling out details of planetary atmospheres.

Spitzer often works in conjunction with ground-based telescopes, including OGLE’s Warsaw Telescope at the Las Campanas Observatory in Chile.

In 2015, a collaboration between Spitzer and Italy’s 3.6 meter Galileo National Telescope in the Canary Islands revealed the closest known rocky planet: HD 219134b, only 21 light-years away from Earth.