A planet without a star, floating freely in space, could harbor life: the discovery that challenges everything we thought we knew about the origins of life in the universe.

The Vera Rubin telescope, one of the most powerful and recent astronomical instruments, has captured the unthinkable: a rogue planet—without a star—with an active atmosphere and chemical signatures consistent with life . This discovery, hailed as one of the most astonishing of the last decade, radically changes our understanding of where and how life could arise.

Rogue planets are celestial bodies that do not orbit any star and wander freely through space. They were once thought to be cold and lifeless worlds. But this planet, which astronomers have named DRIFT-12b , has a dense atmosphere with traces of methane, water vapor, and carbon dioxide —a combination that, on Earth, is often associated with biological processes.

The key lies in its internal heat source : geothermal processes in its core keep the surface warmer than expected, creating conditions that could support microbial life, especially below the surface. Furthermore, the planet has an active magnetosphere, which helps protect any life forms from cosmic radiation.

NASA and the European Space Agency have already begun simulations for sending more advanced observation missions. If the presence of life on a sunless world is confirmed, it would be the greatest scientific discovery of our time .