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Astronomers have for the first time discovered water in the atmosphere of a planet orbiting an area that could be inhabited on a distant planet.
Finding water in this new world, dubbed K2-18B, is a likely candidate for research on extraterrestrial life.
In 10 years, new telescopes may be able to determine if the atmosphere in K-2B contains gases that may be produced by organisms.
The details were published in the journal Nature Astronomy.
Professor Giovanna Tenetti, a professor at University College London, described the discovery as "staggering".
"This is the first time we discover water on a planet in the region where we can live around a temperature star in tune with life," Tenetti said.
The area that can be inhabited is the area around a star where the temperature allows the water to be in a liquid state on the surface of a planet.
The K2 -18B is 111 light-years from Earth, about 650 million miles, a distance that exceeds the capacity of any probe.
The only option is to wait for the next generation of space telescopes, which will be launched in the next 10 years, and to see in the air gases that can only be produced by living organisms, said Ingo Waldman, professor at University College London.
"This is one of the biggest scientific questions and we have always wondered if we are alone in the universe," Waldman said. In ten years, we will know and we will know if there are chemicals resulting from living in this atmosphere. "
The Planet Investigation Team explored the Hubble Space Telescope between 2016 and 2017. Researchers have identified certain chemicals in their atmosphere by studying the change of starlight as stars revolved around their suns. .
The light that goes through the atmosphere of the planet changes because of the composition of the atmosphere.
The molecular structure of water has only been revealed in K2-18B, an essential component of life on Earth. A computer generated data model suggested that water could account for 50% of the atmosphere.
The size of the new planet is about twice that of the Earth and its temperature allows the water to be in the liquid state, between 0 and 40 degrees Celsius.
Angelus Tsarias, a member of the University College London team, said finding water on a planet fit for life was "incredibly exciting".
"It brings us closer to the answer to the key question: Is the Earth a unique planet?" Said Tsarias.
One of the difficulties facing researchers is that scientists do not agree with the gases, signs of life. Their agreement can take a long time.
For that, it may be necessary to study the chemical composition of hundreds of worlds and understand how they form and grow, Tenetti said.
"The Earth is the only one in the solar system. It is oxygen, water and ozone. But if we find all this around a distant planet, we have to be careful about what is possible in life. "
"So we must understand that there are not a few planets in the galaxy, but hundreds of them. What we hope for is the discovery of the planets that can be found there and the great difference between the planets on which life can exist and the other planets.
Researcher Beth Peller of the Edinburgh University's Institute of Astronomy said that she thought that evidence of life on a planet around a star far away would eventually be discovered.
"It will be a change in the course of humanity," she told the BBC.
"It will not be like a computer movie, it will be like microbes or other simple species. Even if this is the case, finding life in its simplest form would be enormous. "
The future NASA James Webb Space Telescope could be launched in 2021 and the European Space Agency's mission seven years later, astronomers could study the atmospheric details of the various worlds discovered so far.
Water was found on other planets, but it was too big or too hot to live. Smaller, less heated planets are difficult to detect.
The team from University College London was able to achieve this by developing algorithms to determine the chemical composition of the atmosphere of the worlds that would be suitable for life.
The K2-18B was discovered in 2015 and is one of hundreds of Earth planets at Neptune discovered by NASA's Kepler probe. NASA's Tess mission is expected to find hundreds of other planets in the coming years.
The research was funded by the European Research Council and the British Council for Science and Technology. (BBC)
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