It's been a century since we established the first colony on planet Zarmina, in the Gliese system 20 light years from Earth. After scientists discovered its oxygen-rich atmosphere, it wasn't long before settlers came. And then tourists, and hockey teams.

Steve Vogt is the UC Santa Cruz astrophysicist who discovered Zarmina, the first recorded Earthlike planet outside our solar system. He told io9 what a human colony there would be like, and why he believes the planet already harbors life.

A Neptune-sized exoplanet thirty-three light-years away is defying all our expectations of what planetary atmospheres should look like. The planet has 7,000 times less methane gas than expected, but it's rich in carbon monoxides...and we have no idea why.