Discovery of an Earth-like planet in a habitable zone was found after looking at just nine nearby stars. Such a small sampling implies that worlds like Earth are extremely common. Techniques are under development to look for the chemical fingerprints of life in the atmospheres of such planets.

A new chapter in the search for life beyond Earth opened this week with the discovery of the first rocky world well positioned around its parent star to hold pools of water, an environment believed to be necessary for life.Due to an unfortunate viewing angle, scientists can’t determine if this particular planet, known as Gliese 581 g, is indeed endowed, but they don’t expect to have to wait too long to find similar worlds that can be probed…

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