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In the dim, red light of an alien sun, scientists have found the first evidence for water in the atmosphere of a rocky planet – offering a tantalizing new target in the search for life in the universe.

The intriguing world, which goes by the impersonal designation K2-18b, lies 110 light-years away in the constellation Leo. More important: It sits in its star’s “habitable zone,” where it is bathed in the right amount of warmth to allow for liquid water on its surface.

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Twice as large as our own planet and eight times as massive, K2-18b possesses powerful gravity that would make it difficult to walk upon. It orbits close to a red dwarf star, much smaller and cooler than our sun. And aside from water vapour, its atmosphere contains mostly hydrogen gas – a molecule that makes up less than 1 part per million of our own atmosphere.

It is no “second Earth,” said astronomer Angelos Tsiaras, the lead author of a study on the planet published Wednesday in the journal Nature Astronomy. But he believes it is “the best candidate for habitability that we know right now.”