Hubble Spots Water Vapor in Small Exoplanet's Atmosphere (scitechdaily.com) 28
"Astronomers using NASA's Hubble Space Telescope observed the smallest exoplanet where water vapor has been detected in the atmosphere," writes SciTechDaily.
"At only approximately twice Earth's diameter, the planet GJ 9827d could be an example of potential planets with water-rich atmospheres elsewhere in our galaxy." "This would be the first time that we can directly show through an atmospheric detection, that these planets with water-rich atmospheres can actually exist around other stars," said team member Björn Benneke of the Trottier Institute for Research on Exoplanets at Université de Montréal. "This is an important step toward determining the prevalence and diversity of atmospheres on rocky planets."
"Water on a planet this small is a landmark discovery," added co-principal investigator Laura Kreidberg of Max Planck Institute for Astronomy in Heidelberg, Germany. "It pushes closer than ever to characterizing truly Earth-like worlds."
However, it remains too early to tell whether Hubble spectroscopically measured a small amount of water vapor in a puffy hydrogen-rich atmosphere, or if the planet's atmosphere is mostly made of water, left behind after a primeval hydrogen/helium atmosphere evaporated under stellar radiation... Because the planet is as hot as Venus, at 800 degrees Fahrenheit, it definitely would be an inhospitable, steamy world if the atmosphere were predominantly water vapor...
"Observing water is a gateway to finding other things," said Thomas Greene, astrophysicist at NASA's Ames Research Center in California's Silicon Valley. "This Hubble discovery opens the door to future study of these types of planets by the James Webb Space Telescope.
"At only approximately twice Earth's diameter, the planet GJ 9827d could be an example of potential planets with water-rich atmospheres elsewhere in our galaxy." "This would be the first time that we can directly show through an atmospheric detection, that these planets with water-rich atmospheres can actually exist around other stars," said team member Björn Benneke of the Trottier Institute for Research on Exoplanets at Université de Montréal. "This is an important step toward determining the prevalence and diversity of atmospheres on rocky planets."
"Water on a planet this small is a landmark discovery," added co-principal investigator Laura Kreidberg of Max Planck Institute for Astronomy in Heidelberg, Germany. "It pushes closer than ever to characterizing truly Earth-like worlds."
However, it remains too early to tell whether Hubble spectroscopically measured a small amount of water vapor in a puffy hydrogen-rich atmosphere, or if the planet's atmosphere is mostly made of water, left behind after a primeval hydrogen/helium atmosphere evaporated under stellar radiation... Because the planet is as hot as Venus, at 800 degrees Fahrenheit, it definitely would be an inhospitable, steamy world if the atmosphere were predominantly water vapor...
"Observing water is a gateway to finding other things," said Thomas Greene, astrophysicist at NASA's Ames Research Center in California's Silicon Valley. "This Hubble discovery opens the door to future study of these types of planets by the James Webb Space Telescope.
Not a Fish (Score:2, Funny)
./ says :
"We don't know who it was that discovered water, but we're pretty sure that it wasn't a fish. -- Marshall McLuhan"
Re: (Score:3)
I haven't read that closely, but I believe only your first statement had actual truth in it. Everything else was just random ramblings, better suited for those fringe (or, rather mainstream-ish nowadays) conspiracy theories-based communities.
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It isn't a "prejudice", people simply observe the fact that water has properties that are, well, compatible with many of the abstract requirements for the emergence of the kind of dynamic equilibrium that life is.
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Life on earth is not an equilibrium phenomenon, dynamic or not - it is a far-from-equilibrium phenomenon in a thermodynamically open system.
Re:Obsession with water (Score:5, Informative)
There's a prejudice toward "water equals life" that planetologists have.
They have that prejudice for good reason:
1. Water has many very useful properties for life. It is polar, which means life can form membranes. It is liquid at temperatures that facilitate metabolism.
2. Water is abundant in the universe. It is more common than any other molecule but H2.
No other substance is both suitable as a medium for life and abundant. Fluorocarbons might work as a medium but are extremely rare. Methane is abundant (but not nearly as abundant as water) but isn't polar and is liquid only at cryogenic temperatures.
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Isn't ammonia both polar and pretty abundant in the universe?
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It is kind of, but not sure if being "polar" is really that interesting/useful.
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Water is much more abundant than ammonia.
Ammonia is caustic and corrosive, so it is useful as a reactant but less so as a medium.
Polar substances are important for life because all known life depends on membranes to contain and concentrate chemicals.
Membranes form in polar liquids using a double layer of molecules that are hydrophobic on one end and hydrophilic on the other end.
Maybe it is possible for life to form in a non-polar liquid, but that's getting further and further from LAWKI.
LAWKI=Life As We Kno
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Water is much more abundant than ammonia.
Ammonia is caustic and corrosive, so it is useful as a reactant but less so as a medium.
Water is very corrosive, but that's so commonplace we don't pay attention to it. For example, expose a chunk of the common mineral halite (more commonly known as "salt") to water and it dissolves away in seconds. We don't notice how commonplace it is, because stuff that is attacked by water isn't around (because if it were, it would already be gone.)
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Well, if you saw that on Star Trek, then clearly it is a possibility. I saw a pink unicorn on TV once, so clearly that is a possibility.
Too hot [Re:Obsession with water] (Score:2)
With a temperature of 800 F, this is a case of water NOT EQUALS life.
I'm not sure why this news is interesting in any way, except as a tour de force of spectroscopy. We already know water is abundant in the universe. Finding water in the atmosphere of a planet as hot as Venus most clearly doesn't imply anything interesting in the way of astrobiology.
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With a temperature of 800 F, this is a case of water NOT EQUALS life
Sorry to disagree here, but lots of people live in Florida. Case closed.
Re: Too hot [Re:Obsession with water] (Score:1)
Reopen that case!
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With a temperature of 800 F, this is a case of water NOT EQUALS life.
I'm not sure why this news is interesting in any way, except as a tour de force of spectroscopy. We already know water is abundant in the universe. Finding water in the atmosphere of a planet as hot as Venus most clearly doesn't imply anything interesting in the way of astrobiology.
One of the theories of where life began is around deep sea vents, where the water remains well over 700 F. Water at 800 F, over a long enough time, *could* lead to life, but nowhere is anybody saying it's a direct indicator today.
I just find it interesting that we're able to pick out elements and compounds at such a distance today. That's the fascinating bit to me. The life-indicative add-on is just for attention, I'm sure. We have no way of knowing one way or the other, and having a desire to declare in ei
Signs of life [Re:Obsession with water] (Score:2)
Water and water vapor doesn't mean life, the propensity for life, or anything other than "water vapor was located here."
Yes and no. Water definitely doesn't mean life, since we see water in the solar system in places we haven't seen life. It does, however, mean that we see one of the prerequisites for life of the kind we know about. As for prerequisites for life of the kind we don't know about, we don't know what those are.
.. but rather "seriously, can you guys get your water religion put down and start looking for signs of life?" The next time someone tells you a planetologist or his 20 grad students are geniuses, ask them when they looked for actual signs of extraterrestrial life, not "water".
Not sure what you mean by "planetologist." Not actually a discipline. You mean planetary geologist? Astronomer? Astrobiologist? I know planetary scientists, and astronomers, and astrobiologists, and none o
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And I don't know what you mean by "look for actual signs of extraterrestrial life." What signs exactly do you think they should look for?
He means he has strong opinions about something and he is sure he is right about his opinions. However reading his comment as a whole, it seems he does not have any real expertise in the subject. Basically it is an example of Dunning-Kruger effect. It is the same as everyone who is certain that World Trade Center 7 could not have brought down by an uncontrolled fire that raged for hours because steel does not burn. Meanwhile metallurgists, blacksmiths, and structural engineers just shake their heads.
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What's cooking? (Score:1)
Something tasty?
Re: What's cooking? (Score:1)
Now that's a story.
Jinx? (Score:1)
Maybe?
Ice giant (Score:2)
Not very much like Earth. According to NASA, it's an ice giant, 3.5 times earth mass, and at roughly 8 times the volume, less than half as dense. But who knows, life could find a way.