Molecular Basis for Life Found on Extrasolar Planet

DarkProphet writes "NASA scientists have discovered the first evidence of organic molecules on an extrasolar planet. Using the Hubble Space Telescope, they detected trace amounts of methane on a swirling gas giant about 63 light-years from our own planet. Being a gas giant, there's almost no chance this discovery represents extrasolar life. A unique find, just the same. 'HD 189733b, a so-called "hot Jupiter," located 63 light years away, has proven a boon for scientists studying exoplanets. Its large size and proximity to its star mean that it dims the star's light more than any other known exoplanet. Combine that with its home star's high brightness, and scientists find that the system creates the best viewing conditions of any known extrasolar system. At different wavelengths, every atom and molecule has its own telltale footprint, so scientists can convert what are known as absorption spectra into the chemical composition of the object they're looking at.'"

Comments

Same old hype

[l2718]

The ability to resolve the spectral lines is a great advance. The hype is getting old. We know that small "organic" molecules are not hard to come by; we expect to find them everywhere we look, yet the press goes ape whenever we find them. Worse, since we have no idea what "life" is, it seems a bit odd to go crazy over molecules that are somewhat related to our kind of "life".

Now, oxygen, on the other hand...

[Loke the Dog]

Well, it's cool that we can find proof of any kind of molecules on extrasolar planets, but I'm still waiting for the discovery of O2 on an extra solar planet, that will be the discovery of the century. Methane is not so cool.

Re:Now, oxygen, on the other hand...

[mog007]

The first lifeforms on our own planet didn't use O2 for respiration. It took a very, very, very long time for the Earth's original atmosphere to be converted to the 70% nitrogen, 20% oxygen atmosphere we're comfortable breathing now. Even today we have a very popular organism that doesn't require O2 to function, and the wonderful result of lacking O2 is ethanol.

Liquid water is the smoking gun for life forms, and maybe some serious carbon.

Re:Hydrogues

[timster]

Seriously though, I'd like to know exactly what makes life on gas giants so unlikely. You've got all sorts of chemicals swirling around, different temperatures at different depths, and frequent capture of diverse debris. We've hardly explored the interiors of the gas giants right here in our own system, so what's the basis for ruling out life on gas giants 60 ly away?

I'm sure there's good science involved, I'm just curious to know what it is.

Re:Headline is misleading

[esocid]

The big deal with it is that they now have a proven method for using spectrum analysis to determine the presence of organic molecules. From the actual research paper:

As these bands can overlap in wavelength, and the corresponding signatures from them are weak, decisive identification requires precision infrared spectroscopy. Here we report a near-infrared transmission spectrum of the planet HD 189733b that shows the presence of methane.

Here is the abstract.