eli5: Today NASA announced it has detected a gas on a planet 120 light years away that might indicate life. How?

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I just can’t compute how this is possible. How can a telescope detect a gas, which isn’t even visible to the naked eye, on a planet that is an incomprehensible distance away.

[Source](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-66786611)

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26 Answers

Anonymous 0 Comments

Stand by the side of a lightly traveled road and close your eyes.

Listen to the sounds of cars passing you by.

There’s so much information in what you hear. You can tell which direction the cars are moving, how fast. You might be able to hear what kind of engine it has.

Light has information too. Vast amounts of information.

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