Water Found in Exoplanet's Atmosphere

anthemaniac writes "Astronomers have long suspected that water should exist in the atmospheres of extrasolar planets. Now they have evidence. Water has been discovered in a planet called HD209458b, which was previously found to have oxygen. From the article: 'The discovery ... means one of the most crucial elements for life as we know it can exist around planets orbiting other stars.' But don't go looking for little green men. You might remember HD209458b as a 'hot Jupiter' that boils under the glow of its very nearby star."

Re:Life can easily exist

[Anonymous Coward]

nothing survives at 600 degrees F. That is the temperature of the vent, and is strictly a sterile environment near the opening. The stuff that lives around the vents lives where the cold seawater and the vent liquid mix.

Maximum temperature for microbial life at pressure is closer to 200 degrees F or 90C. Similar to Thermus aquaticus in yellowstone, an extremophile that lives above 70C.

Don't get too carried away!

[EmbeddedJanitor]

Sure bacteria live inside sea vents and even in nuclear reactor cores. Many of these don't even need oxygen (so using oxygen as an indicator of life is ill informed). Tube worms and other animals found near the vents don't live inside the vents, they live around them where the water is a lot cooler (way less than 100C).

Re:Straw poll:

[NocturnalCritter]

It's already been argued here: http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/02/1 9/1515205 [slashdot.org]

Re:Straw poll:

[Grishnakh]

You're absolutely wrong. If you don't believe me, here's a link to one of the aforementioned polls:
CBS poll [cbsnews.com]

Before you say anything about the validity of polls, I think they're a lot more valid than some comments from random people like you on Slashdot who are trying to defend a position with no evidence whatsoever.

Anyway, the poll referenced shows 55% believing that "God created humans in present form", meaning they're Creationists. More importantly, 37% favor teaching Creationism instead of Evolution in schools, and 65% favor teaching both.

So your assertion that most Christians in the USA ("WHEREVER" is a totally different ball of wax; other places don't have nearly as many fundamentalists as the USA) "DONT WANT" creationism taught in school is obviously false. The percentage of Christians in the USA is certainly significantly less than 100%, with all the atheists, agnostics, Muslims, Jews, Hindus, and others. Let's say it's around 75% for argument's sake; if 65% out of 75% believes both Creationism and Evolution should be taught, that's obviously a majority. And the 37% of the stricter Creationism-only group is still about half. Again, look at the significance here: HALF of US Christians want Creationism (only) taught in schools.

So no, my opinions are not based on any personal anecdotes, but instead large nationwide surveys.