A “devil” comet’s water is strikingly similar to the water on Earth, researchers have discovered.

The finding supports the idea that water was brought to our planet through comet impacts, helping set the stage for life to evolve, the team reported Aug. 8 in the journal Nature Astronomy.

“Our new results provide the strongest evidence yet that at least some Halley-type comets carried water with the same isotopic signature as that found on Earth, supporting the idea that comets could have helped make our planet habitable,” NASA molecular astrophysicist Martin Cordiner, who led the team, said in a statement.