Posted by
Michael on Tuesday, April 10, 2007 5:29:03 PM
I've always been fascinated by space, not because I have any interest or relevant knowledge about science but more out of a childish awe. I'm also a firm believer that we are not alone in the universe, so the development of a
discovery of water on a planet outside of our solar system pleases me.
Bryan at Hot Air also feels a little ecstatic at the news:
Before getting into the details of this story, I just want to note
the amazing achievement that it represents. It wasn’t all that long ago
that we were still looking for the first proof that planets even exist
outside our solar system. The
Drake equation
said that they should, but we had no proof. And when we found the first
proof, it was boring proof: We never actually saw the first extra-solar
planet (or exoplanet) itself, we just saw its parent star wobble,
hinting that a big planet-sized object’s gravity was affecting the
star. There was no image, and we knew nothing about the planet itself
beyond its rough mass. And we had to watch the parent star for a looong
time to even be able to detect the wobble.
Well, we’ve come a long long way since then. Now we’re using Hubble
to probe the atmosphere of an exoplanet. Hubble wasn’t designed to do
that, so its capability here is a bonus. And it’s a
frickin’ cool bonus, if you ask me.