First planet with water is spotted outside Solar System

Marx · #1 11th-July-2007

Quote:

Astronomers on Wednesday announced they had spotted the first planet beyond the Solar System that has water, the precious ingredient for life. The watery world, though, is far beyond the reach of our puny chemically-powered rockets -- and in any case is quite uninhabitable.
It is made of gas rather than rock and its atmosphere reaches temperatures hot enough to melt steel, which means the water exists only as superheated steam.
The find, named HD189733b, is about 15 percent bigger than our Jupiter and orbits a star in the constellation of Vulpecula the Fox, according to a paper released by Nature, the weekly British science journal.
It was spotted by a team led by Giovanna Tinetti of the European Space Agency (ESA) and University College London.
As HD 189733b swung in front of its star, it absorbed part of the spectrum of starlight in a telltale way that can only be explained by the presence of water in its atmosphere, the discoverers say.
Extrasolar worlds -- also called exoplanets -- were first spotted in 1995.
So far, 245 of them have been spotted, according to the Extrasolar Planets Encyclopaedia (http://exoplanet.eu/), and the tally is growing at the rate of three or four a month.
Virtually all of the discoveries have been made indirectly, mainly by a "wobble" in light, seen from Earth, when the planet swings around its star.
The change in light is a fingerprint that can yield many clues about the planet's size, orbit and atmosphere. But this is the first time that astronomers have been able to confirm that water is present.
"Although HD 189733b is far from being habitable and actually provides a rather hostile environment, our discovery shows that water might be more common out there than previously thought," said Tinetti.
"Our method can be used in the future to study more 'life-friendly' environments."
The planet's star, HD 189733, is similar in size to our Sun, but a bit cooler.
But the planet itself would be hell for humans.
Orbiting cheek by jowel to the star, at a distance that is 30 times closer than that between the Earth and the Sun, parts of the planet's atmosphere reach 2,000 degrees Celsius (3,600 degrees Fahrenheit).
This seething temperature is reached on the side of the planet that always faces the star. By comparison, the other side of the planet is relatively balmy, with a low of 500 C (932 F).
Tinetti's team used NASA's Spitzer orbiting telescope, using its infrared sensors to pick out the tiny signature that occurs when water vapour absorbs light from a star.
The big prize is to spot a rocky planet that lies in the so-called Goldilocks Zone, where the temperature is not so hot that water evaporates, nor so cold that it is perpetually frozen, but "just right", enabling water to exist in liquid form.
"The 'Holy Grail' for today's planet-hunters is to find an Earth-like planet that also has water in its atmosphere," explained Tinetti.
"When it happens, the discovery will provide real evidence that planets outside our Solar System might harbour life. Finding the existence of water on an extra-solar gas giant is a vital milestone along that road of discovery."

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**bachelor tom** · #2 11th-July-2007

Thanks Karl, I always loved astronomy, I understand they're still trying to find water/ice on Mars and some of moons of Jupiter & Saturn

Marx · #3 11th-July-2007

Did you watch the Sky at Night, with Sir Patrick Moore? Fascinating programme... just fascinating.

**bachelor tom** · #4 12th-July-2007

Quote:

Originally Posted by Marx

Did you watch the Sky at Night, with Sir Patrick Moore? Fascinating programme... just fascinating.

No, I'm sure if it came by this way, I don't have a cable TV package, just rabbit ear antenna, so I don't get things like Discovery or the Space Channel. I'm limited to the public channels, PBS from Buffalo and TVO here in Toronto. PBS has the long running series Nova which features astronomy. I don't spend much time in front of the idiot box these days. CBC has shows like The Nature Of Things which is usually more biology/ecology.

I did see bits of a Brit production about dinosaurs, never get tired of them!

**chevalier** · #5 12th-July-2007

I love the sciences almost all of them. The only reason I have a satelite system is for the history chanels national geographic tlc and others. Otherwise TV kinda sucks.

**bachelor tom** · #6 12th-July-2007

Chev did you see any of Junkyard Wars, not exactly science, more applied technology I guess, great fun and some cool vehicles from scrap parts

**Percy** · #7 12th-July-2007

There are planets out there with flourishing, intelligent civilisations, watching us, and keeping radio silence in case we spot them with the SETI.

They can see the plague of Feminazism spreading here and want to keep us in isolation!

All their communications are by cable, Tom, so that they don't have transmissions escaping.

Intelligent alright.

**chevalier** · #8 12th-July-2007

BT I love junkyard wars and I would say it is a science because you have to see what you've got and then find out what works and then make it work.

**bachelor tom** · #9 12th-July-2007

Quote:

Originally Posted by Percy

There are planets out there with flourishing, intelligent civilisations, watching us, and keeping radio silence in case we spot them with the SETI.

They can see the plague of Feminazism spreading here and want to keep us in isolation!

All their communications are by cable, Tom, so that they don't have transmissions escaping.

Intelligent alright.

SETI? I have a hard enough time finding Terrestrial intelligence lol

**the sad geek** · #10 12th-July-2007

If you are interested in documentaries but don't have or like real-time TV, you might find TV Links useful. You can watch at your leisure. Do note that not all links work, since they are often of questionable legality.

Marx · #11 12th-July-2007

TSG, I have taken a vow to never follow any of your links since clicking the one you offered leading to a story about KITT falling in love with his driver, Michael Knight. I've had problems sleeping since reading parts of that.