Astronomers might be close to confirming the presence of an Earth-like atmosphere on an exoplanet for the first time, if more detailed analyses verify preliminary observations from the James Webb Space Telescope.

The planet is part of a planetary system about 40 light-years away from Earth called TRAPPIST-1, which five Belgian astronomers discovered in 2016 and named after their favourite beer. The system has been heavily studied ever since.

"As a planetary system, it's as alien as it gets," said Néstor Espinoza, an astronomer at the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore.

"The star is very, very small – the size of Jupiter – and it has at least seven rocky planets orbiting around it. Three of those are in what we call the habitable zone, which means they are close enough to the

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