... Star Atlas . ... Future evidence for extraterrestrial life might come from dying stars . Researchers found that we could detect oxygen in the atmosphere of a white dwarfт??s planet much more easily than for an Earth-like planet orbiting a Sun-like star. ... Even dying stars could host planets with life, and if such life exists, we might be able to detect it within the next decade. This encouraging result comes from a new theoretical study of Earth-like planets orbiting white dwarf stars. ...