A planet with four suns has been discovered by volunteers from the planethunters.org citizen science project.

The bright new world, just under 5,000 light years away, is believed to be six times the size of Earth. It orbits one pair of stars and is in turn circled by a second pair. As a result, a total of four stars light up its skies.

“It’s fascinating to try and imagine what it would be like to visit a planet with four suns in its sky, but this new world is confusing astronomers — it’s not at all clear how it formed in such a busy environment,’’ the Telegraph quoted Dr Chris Lintott, from Oxford University, as saying.

A team of professional astronomers confirmed the find using the Keck telescopes on Mauna Kea, Hawaii.

The planet has been named PH1 after the planethunters website.