Extra-Solar Planetary Atmosphere Detected
Illustration Credit: Greg Bacon (STScI/AVL)
Explanation: By directly detecting the atmosphere of a planet outside our Solar System, humanity has taken another small step toward finding extraterrestrial life. The unexpected detection by David Charbonneau (Caltech) and associates came from Hubble Space Telescope observations of Sun-like star HD 209458. As an orbiting planet crossed between that star and the Earth, sodium in the planet's atmosphere absorbed starlight at very specific colors. The planet,originally discovered two years ago, has about 70 percent the mass of Jupiter but orbits very close in. A long-term goal of this type of research is the detection of planetary biomarkers that would indicate life, such as oxygen, water, or methane.
I looked through many pictures on the NASA website, and they were all really amazing. I chose this picture because I thought it was interesting. It is about NASA's work to getting closer to extraterrestrial life. I think it would be awesome if we had some proof that there was life on other planets. There has always been that mystery of other kinds of life. I wish we could finally find some real proof. This picture is helping scientists get closer to the truth. I think the Astronomy Pictures of the Day are interesting, and I learned a lot from looking at them and reading the captions. They are pretty sweet!
Source:
"APOD: 2001 November 28 - Extra Solar Planetary Atmosphere Detected."
Astronomy Picture of the Day. 19 Feb. 2009
You did it!!! I knew you could get it...from your email...you sounded very discouraged, so congratulations on your pic upload!
ReplyDeleteThis is a cool premise for NASA...it would be cool for them to find another planet that humans could inhabit too. Do you have a pioneering spirit..would you ever consider traveling to another planet if it could sustain human life?
I really liked the picture!!! It was a really cool! I thought it was really interesting to. I think it would be awesome to meet ET!! Like the movie. Hahhah!!! Or to travel to another planet and see them. I bet they would think we were crazy! Well at least they'd think I was crazy! And kinda strange and weird! But thats another story!!
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