Science Wednesday: Hot, wet, and ready to be probed!
In the biggest story of the week that sounds dirty but isn't...
A scorching-hot gas planet beyond our solar system is steaming up with water vapor, according to new observations from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope. . . .
welters as it zips closely around its star every two days or so. Astronomers had predicted that planets of this class, termed "hot Jupiters," would contain water vapor in their atmospheres. Yet finding solid evidence for this has been slippery. These latest data are the most convincing yet that hot Jupiters are "wet." . . .
"Finding water on this planet implies that other planets in the universe, possibly even rocky ones, could also have water," said co-author [of a paper to appear in today's Nature] Sean Carey of NASA's Spitzer Science Center at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena.
You know what water means. A possibility of life-- and Klingons!
A scorching-hot gas planet beyond our solar system is steaming up with water vapor, according to new observations from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope. . . .
welters as it zips closely around its star every two days or so. Astronomers had predicted that planets of this class, termed "hot Jupiters," would contain water vapor in their atmospheres. Yet finding solid evidence for this has been slippery. These latest data are the most convincing yet that hot Jupiters are "wet." . . .
"Finding water on this planet implies that other planets in the universe, possibly even rocky ones, could also have water," said co-author [of a paper to appear in today's Nature] Sean Carey of NASA's Spitzer Science Center at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena.
You know what water means. A possibility of life-- and Klingons!
posted by Matt Sandwich | 2:51 PM
<< Home