NASA detects one more planet with life-supporting environment
Press Trust of India / Washington Oct 21, 2009, 17:49 IST
Organic molecules essential for life have been detected in one more hot gas planet outside the solar system, within a year by NASA scientists.
Scientists at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California detected water, methane and carbon dioxide — the basic chemistry for life — in the planet named HD 209458b, NASA said.
The data from Hubble Space Telescope and Spitzer Space Telescope — NASA's two orbiting observatories — was used to detect the planet bigger than Jupiter.
"It's the second planet outside our solar system in which water, methane and carbon dioxide have been found, which are potentially important for biological processes in habitable planets," said Mark Swain, one of the researchers at NASA.
The finding follows the December 2008 discovery of carbon dioxide around another hot, Jupiter-size planet — HD 189733b — on which water vapor and methane were earlier detected.
"Detecting organic compounds in two exoplanets now raises the possibility that it will become common place to find planets with molecules that may be tied to life," Swain said.
The new finding have advanced the astronomers toward the goal of being able to distinguish planets where life could exist from those where life cannot exist.
HD 209458b orbits a sun-like star about 150 light years away in the constellation Pegasus. The planet is not habitable but has the same chemistry that, if found around a rocky planet in future, could indicate presence of life.
Poor old ojwok (probably misspelled Frank) please don't try to communicate with any other life form, you will embarrass us all. Actually stop communicating with humans, you are not very good at it.
these planets almost certainly are unable to support human life, but who knows what sorts of biological organisms will evolve from this planet's primordial ooze? to quote jeff goldblum, life finds a way. (yep, totally just went there.)
I'm more curious to know an obvious question - Detecting the environment that may support life from a planet 150 light years away. Human evolution, technology and industry came a long way in 150 years. Arent we looking at data from 150 years ago, minimum?
First, it's only the second planet with viable molecules found, of the tens of thousands of planets found; orbiting the millions of stars that have been searched.
Second, they're both super-gas-giants, significantly larger than Jupiter, therefore having gravity far beyond the threshold of what can sustain life (as a planet where hundreds of "g's" is commonplace, would kill anything).
Thirdly, their orbit from their respective stars is of a significant distance difference to that of earth, meaning that the temperatures would greatly differ from those necessary to support life.
The fact is, Earth, as far as we know, truly is Unique in that it has the perfect mixture of life giving compounds, appropriate size/gravitational pull, optimal solar radiation to Van Allen belt ratio.
We'd better take care of this planet...it looks like the only one we'll ever get.
From the article:
"It's the second planet outside our solar system in which water, methane and carbon dioxide have been found, which are potentially important for biological processes in habitable planets," said Mark Swain, one of the researchers at NASA.
We don't know if it is a life-supporting environment or not. Nice article title, guys.
I we human have contaminated our water air that we have endagered our existence on earth I am sure that the living being on other planet would deny us hostbitality,on that in thier clean planet because earthlings are the most dertiest being in the whole universe|
Posted by: Dud
October 23 , 2009, 21:48 IST
they would deny you ojwok hospitality based on your lack of communication skills.
Posted by: 2
October 22 , 2009, 23:32 IST
How do you know we're the dirtiest beings in the whole universe?
Posted by: T.L
October 22 , 2009, 21:53 IST
Plus, we have terrible spelling and grammar.
Posted by: Irving
October 22 , 2009, 21:00 IST
We're apparently also the poorest spellers in the whole universe.
Posted by: Turgenev
October 22 , 2009, 20:01 IST
ojmok: Wow. Reading you hurt me. In my heart.
Jonese: RTFA. It's not even that long. Didn't you get to the end where they answer your specific question?
Gregg: It would be interesting to see if there are quantifiable trends in elemental distribution within certain galactic neighborhoods, but I don't think they should be used as an elimination vector. Carbon-based is the form of life we see and understand, but other organic substrates may have a different pattern completely (such as theoretical silicon-based, although current understanding on this considers this unlikely).
With only two there isn't much data except for the fraction 2 over some number of systems checked. That would be useful in knowing if these organic molecules were common through out our portion of the galaxy or if the lack of these (with an accurate enough means of detection) can be used to eliminate some systems from further consideration if life is present on other planets or moons of that system.
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