It’s a baby step, but an important one. NASA reported yesterday that they found the first evidence of an organic molecule in the atmosphere of a planet outside of the solar system. Methane was discovered in the atmosphere of planet HD 189733b (let’s call it planet ‘Moo-cow’ for simplicity) by the Hubble telescope. Plenty of methane has been discovered in the planets of the solar system, so it is far from declaring that planet Moo-Cow has life. However, it is a victory at the least for our remote sensing instruments!