NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has discovered both carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide in the atmosphere of a distant planet, in a key step for finding extra-terrestrial life, the space agency said on Tuesday.

Detecting organic compounds that can be a by-product of life processes on an Earth-like body could one day "provide the first evidence of life beyond our planet," NASA said in a statement.

The discovery was made on a Jupiter-size planet, 63 light years away from Earth that is too hot for life, and is all gas and liquid.