For the first time, scientists have detected an atmosphere on a planet similar to Earth in the habitable zone of a distant star.[4424816] The discovery was made using data from the Hubble Space Telescope and a ground-based telescope array.[4424816][4319168] The atmosphere is thought to be composed mostly of hydrogen and helium, with small amounts of other gases.[4424816] This finding has significant implications for the search for life beyond our planet.[4424816][4319168] The habitable zone is the region around a star where temperatures are just right for liquid water to exist on a planet's surface.[4319168]