The first time we find evidence of life on a planet orbiting another star (an exoplanet ), it is probably going to be by analysing the gases in its atmosphere. With the number of known Earth-like planets growing, we could soon discover gases in an exoplanet's atmosphere that are associated with life on Earth.
But what if alien life uses somewhat different chemistry to ours? A new study, published in Nature Astronomy , argues that our best chances of using atmospheres to find evidence of life is to broaden our search from focusing on planets like our own to include those with a hydrogen atmosphere.
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