Methane found on distant planet

London: Methane has been discovered in the atmosphere of a distant planet outside our solar system – the same planet where scientists discovered water last year.

The Hubble Space Telescope detected the organic compound in a Jupiter-sized planet that circles a star 63 light-years away in the constellation Vulpecula.

The planet, HD 189733b, is too close to a nearby star to support life as we know it. But researchers said the observations show the astronomers' technique for detecting essential life ingredients can be used on cooler, potentially habitable Earth-sized planets.

Such discoveries could aid efforts to find life on planets outside our solar system, scientists said Wednesday.

Some experts believe finding organic molecules on Earth-like planets will be a lot harder. Scientists say methane is important to indicate a by-product of life, but finding water, carbon dioxide and oxygen are critical.