Steam of water for a planet similar to the Earth

Scientists have spotted for the first time the water vapor in the atmosphere of a planet-like planet gravitating around a distant star, sign of an essential component of life outside the solar system, according to a recently published study.

The water vapor was found in the atmosphere of K2-18B, one of hundreds of planets whose size varies between Earth and Neptune.

These planets have been documented in a new branch of astronomy, dedicated to the exploration of so-called extrasolar planets, elsewhere in the Milky Way. More than 4000 planets of all types and sizes have been detected outside the solar system. The latest discovery is contained in the research of a team of scientists from University College London, published in the journal Nature Astronomy.

"We found water," Ingo Waldmann, professor of astrophysics at London University College, told Reuters. The new discovery was made thanks to the observations of the Hubble Space Telescope, which analyzed the light of the star that was leaking into the atmosphere of the planet (K2-18B).