For the first time, researchers discovered traces of water vapor in a super-Earth planet that sits in a habitable zone. According to the researchers, their latest discovery could mean that the alien planet is capable of supporting life.

The researchers made their discovery through NASA and the European Space Agency’s Hubble Space Telescope. Their findings were presented in a new study that was featured in the pre-publication online journal arXiv.org.

Using an algorithm that analyzes atmospheric data, the researchers were able to detect the presence of water vapor as well as traces of hydrogen and helium in the atmosphere of a planet known as K2-18b.

K2-18b is a massive alien planet that’s eight times the mass of Earth. It was one of the exoplanets that was discovered by NASA’s Kepler Space Telescope in 2015.

The researchers believe that the water vapor could also point to the existence of liquid water clouds in the atmosphere of K2-18b.

“This represents the biggest step yet taken towards our ultimate goal of finding life on other planets, of proving that we are not alone,” Bjorn Benneke, of the Institute for Research on Exoplanets at the Université de Montréal in Canada and lead author of the study, said in a statement.

“Thanks to our observations and out climate model of this planet, we have shown that its water vapor can condense into liquid water,” he added. This is a first.”

In addition to the possible existence of liquid water on K2-18b, researchers also believe that the temperatures on the planet are ideal due to its proximity from its host star, which lies about 110 light-years away from Earth.

According to the researchers, K2-18b lies within a habitable zone, which means it is not too close or too far from its host star. This suggests that temperatures on the planet are just right for life to thrive.

Despite the findings of their study, the researchers noted that further investigations and observations are yet to be conducted to confirm the existence of liquid water on K2-18b. More importantly, it is yet to be proven if the planet is capable of supporting life.

Exoplanet
Scientists have discovered that a new medium-sized planet is vanishing at a faster rate than others. Pictured: A hand out image made available by the European Southern Observatory on August 24 2016, shows an artist's impression of the planet Proxima b orbiting the red dwarf star Proxima Centauri, the closest star to the Solar System. Getty Images/M. Kornmesser
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