Astronomers may be just two decades away from finding extraterrestrial life, by using a new technique that analyses starlight streaming through a planet's atmosphere. Tested on the Earth, strong signs of life were found in the form of chemical "fingerprints". Analysing the light patterns, known as "transmission spectrums", can reveal chemicals such as oxygen and water, which indicate the presence of life. The test was carried out during a lunar eclipse by observing moonlight passing through the Earth's atmosphere - equivalent to observing the Earth's spectrum from far away as it passed in front of the Sun. Dr Enrie Palle, from the Astrophysics Institute of transmission spectrum of an inhabited planet looks like, we have a the Canaries, wrote in the journal Nature: "Now we know what the much better idea of how find and recognise Earth-like planets outside our solar system where life may be thriving".
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