Astronomers recently announced they've discovered two more exoplanets orbiting a star 54 light-years away, confirming the belief that rocky planets orbit stars relatively close to Earth.

These two exoplanets were found orbiting the star HD 7924 , according to a paper released by the scientists who announced the discovery. They had previously discovered another exoplanet orbiting HD 7924, and all of the three planets complete a full orbit in 24.5 days or fewer, the paper added.

This is an artist's depiction of how the three exoplanets may look.

(Karen Termaura, BJ Fulton/UH IfA)

Benjamin Fulton, University of Hawaii at Manoa graduate student and author of the paper, told NPR that the new exoplanets . He also said that they're closer to the star than Mercury is to our Sun, and therefore are so hot that it's unlikely any of the three contain life.

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The discovery of these planets was a major victory for the new Automated Planet Finder (APF), located at Lick Observatory atop Mount Hamilton in California. According to Astronomy Magazine, the APF is a robotic telescope every clear night of the year.

"The automation of the telescope means that astronomers can fully use all the time available, and make discoveries faster," Bradford Holden, a scientist from UC Observatories, told Astronomy Magazine.

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