Scientists from NASA have discovered trails of carbon dioxide on HD x189733b, a planet which is 63 light-years away from Earth. Even though CO2 is known to be the ground for life development, the evidence found doesn’t automatically confirm life on the planet, as the atmosphere is very hot, at approximately 900 degrees Celsius.

The discoveries were made by a team of astronomers led by Mark R. Swain, a research scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, and the results will be shown in Astrophysical Journal Letters.

Water vapors have also been found earlier this year on HD x189733b, but the result was confirmed after another more complex research team of astronomers led by scientist Carl J. Grillmairsin of the California Institute of Technology. The results were published in Thursday’s issue of the journal Nature.

The discoveries were made by analyzing the infrared spectrum of light, as every chemical element has a different wavelength footprint. Swain’s team of researchers used the Hubble telescope to analyze the light spectrum of the area around the planet. The fact that HD x189733b orbits its parent star, the scientists measured and then compared the amount of infrared light that the planet and the star emitted combined and separately.

Earlier research regarding the planet pointed out that its atmosphere contains water vapors and methane. The planet HD x189733b is a massive celestial body in the constellation of Vulpecula which was discovered in 2005. This was the first extrasolar planet ever to be mapped.