Astronomers have discovered a pancake-like disk of dust circling a not-so-distant star that resembles our Sun and also is known to harbor a planet in an Earth-like orbit.

Scientists previously have found at least one other star circled by both a planet and a dust disk, leading scientists to suggest the combination may be relatively common among stars like our Sun. The systems could help scientists explain how planetary systems form.

Last year, Iota Horologii was found to have a planet, which was named Iota Hor b. It was the first exoplanet discovered in an almost Earth-like orbit. The star, barely visible to the naked eye, has a mass 1.03 times that of our Sun and is located 56 light-years from Earth. The system sits in the southern constellation Horologium, also known as the Pendulum Clock.

If Iota Hor b were in our solar system, its path would be just beyond the orbit of Venus. It has an orbital period of 320 days -- a few weeks shy of an Earth year.

Earth and Iota Hor b likely have another thing in common, scientists say -- a zodiacal light. Like the newly discovered system, our own solar system also contains dust, which extends out beyond Pluto. When the dust scatters sunlight, it creates a cone of faint light extending above the western horizon soon after sunset or the eastern horizon just before sunrise.

But you probably could not stand on Iota Hor b to watch the light show. Scientists say its composition is probably more similar to Jupiter, meaning it is mostly gas. The distant planet is much larger than Earth, with a mass 2.26 times Jupiter's mass.