When Carl Sagan, the late American astrophysicist, made the comment that ‘we are made of star-stuff’ he meant that all the elements on Earth were once produced in the heart of stars before being flung out into the universe in giant supernovae.

But British scientists have now discovered that the actual building blocks of life itself are also found floating in stardust.

Researchers from Queen Mary University of London and University College London discovered an organic compound in the swirling material which is forming new stars 400 light years away in the constellation Ophiuchus, The Serpent Bearer.

The area of space is significant because it is a mirror image of how our own Solar System formed billions of years ago, suggesting that life in our section of the universe probably got going in a similar way. It also means alien life elsewhere is more likely.