Water found for first time on another star's planet

PARIS - Water has been discovered for the first time in the atmosphere of an exoplanet with Earth-like temperatures that could support life as we know it, scientists revealed on Wednesday.

Eight times the mass of Earth and twice as big, the planet K2-18b orbits in its star's "habitable zone" at a distance - neither too far nor too close - where water can exist in liquid form, according to the report in the journal Nature Astronomy.

"This planet is the best candidate we have outside our solar system" in the search for signs of life, said co-author Giovanna Tinetti, an astronomer at University College London, or UCL. "We cannot assume that it has oceans on the surface but it is a real possibility."