Is there life on other planets? Nobody can answer that by guessing. Scientists have to find a way to look. Some places can be reached by robot, and Mars is one of them. Scientists also use telescopes, some of them out in space, to look for planets around other stars. Let's see how each kind of looking works, and what it has found so far.

A place to start is Mars. It is a small, rocky planet, the fourth planet from the Sun, and about half the size of Earth. It looks red because there is rusty iron in its ground. You may have heard that red means hot. In fact, Mars is a cold desert world, and the red comes from rust.

Long ago, Mars had rivers and lakes. How do we know? Mars has ancient river valleys, deltas and lakebeds, so water most likely once flowed there. That is a big change for a planet that is now a cold desert world.

Rovers are robots with wheels that drive around Mars, taking pictures and measurements. What are they looking for? As of November 2026, some Mars rovers look for signs that tiny living things could have lived on Mars long ago. A sign is a hint, and a hint is not the same as life found.

Mars is only one world. Other stars have planets too. A planet that goes around a star other than our Sun is called an exoplanet. Scientists use telescopes, some of them out in space, to look for planets around other stars. As of November 2026, more than 6,000 are confirmed. You may have heard that planets around other stars are only imagined. In fact, as of November 2026, scientists have confirmed more than 6,000 of them using telescopes.

How can a telescope find a planet it cannot see? One way is to watch a star for tiny dips in its light. When a planet passes in front of the star, it blocks a little of the light. This is called a transit. Transits are one way to find a planet around another star.

Next comes a question about where a planet sits. The habitable zone is the area around a star where a planet could have liquid water on its surface: not too hot and not too cold. A planet in this zone could have liquid water on its surface. A planet that is too hot or too cold is outside the zone.

The sky has its own questions. People sometimes report lights they cannot explain. The letters UFO stand for unidentified flying object: something in the sky that the person who saw it could not identify at that moment. You may have heard that a UFO is a spaceship. In fact, unidentified describes what the person could say at that moment.

Some strange lights have ordinary causes. Bright planets such as Venus and Jupiter, and meteors, are sometimes reported as strange lights because they can look like they are hovering or moving. Weather and research balloons are sometimes reported too. High-altitude balloons often lack markings and can look strange from certain angles. You may have heard that a bright light that seems to move must be a spaceship. In fact, a bright planet such as Venus can look like it is moving, and so can a meteor.

So where does the search stand? As of November 2026, scientists have not found life anywhere beyond Earth, and the search goes on. Rovers search Mars. Telescopes search the stars. That is the state of the search as of November 2026.

Words to know

• transit: planet crossing
• habitable: fit to live
• exoplanet: far-off planet
• deltas: river fans
• meteors: shooting stars