While this is a good find, I wonder how many times we are going to hear the same as the below statement? There always seems to be a historic step towards something in space...

the detection is a historic step toward the eventual search for signs of life on other planets.

Damn it! I'm tired and getting older. Find it already!

love how they say life doesn,t exist on it,seriously how the hell do they know?they don,t....how many things have they had to reavaluate in the last few years cause what they believed to be was proved to be wrong?

Clearly the ability to detect light from a planet would enable the detection of artificial light

They wouldn't be able to detect that. The light of a star reflecting off a planet is vastly more than artificial lights.

Correct me if I'm wrong here and I don't mean to derail your thread here mate, nor am I having a go but hasn't there been a few of these type of discoveries lately?

How is this one different, is it the particular telescope used? I am genuinely asking a question here as my knowledge on the subject is limited at best.

Originally posted by CB328

Clearly the ability to detect light from a planet would enable the detection of artificial light

They wouldn't be able to detect that. The light of a star reflecting off a planet is vastly more than artificial lights.

Can I suggest you read the article?

Originally posted by Pirateofpsychonautics
Correct me if I'm wrong here and I don't mean to derail your thread here mate, nor am I having a go but hasn't there been a few of these type of discoveries lately?

How is this one different, is it the particular telescope used? I am genuinely asking a question here as my knowledge on the subject is limited at best.

What they have found (or claim to have found) is the radiation/light coming from the planet itself.

The technique of finding planets from solar dimming when the planet passes in front of the star only measures the change in light from the star.