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First Exoplanet Atmospheres Analyzed

Posted by samzenpus on from the the-smell-of-exoplanets-in-the-morning dept.

deblau writes "NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope has captured for the first time enough light from planets outside our solar system, known as exoplanets, to identify signatures of individual molecules in their atmospheres. The landmark achievement is a significant step toward being able to detect possible life on rocky exoplanets and comes years before astronomers had anticipated."

2 of 106 comments (clear)

  1. Well,... by TransEurope · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    ..."clean burning" should be defined. Natural gas burns clean in the way it doesn't produce NOx, SOx and so on, but it's made of carbon and hydrogen. So the burning of natural gas will produce CO2. Since CO2 is responsible for global warming (yes, i'm a believer), it's burning is not clean in my personal view.

  2. Oh, damn... by TransEurope · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    ...wrong thread, I'm sorry :(