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Astronomers have measured gases in the atmosphere of a "super-Earth" exoplanet, 55 Cancri e:
For the first time, astronomers have managed a direct measurement of the gases present on a "super-Earth" planet orbiting an alien star. They found evidence for hydrogen and helium in its atmosphere, but no water. Called 55 Cancri e, the world is twice the size of Earth and eight times the mass - but orbits unusually close to its host star, with an 18-hour year and surface temperatures above 2,000C. The UK team published their findings in the Astrophysical Journal.
"This is a very exciting result because it's the first time that we have been able to find the spectral fingerprints that show the gases present in the atmosphere of a super-Earth," said Angelos Tsiaras, a PhD student at University College London and the first author of the paper. "Our analysis of 55 Cancri e's atmosphere suggests that the planet has managed to cling on to a significant amount of hydrogen and helium from the nebula from which it formed."
55 Cancri e is at least 48% as massive as Neptune. The exoplanet is about 40 light years away from Earth.
Detection of an atmosphere around the super-Earth 55 Cancri e
(Score: 2) by bob_super on Wednesday February 17 2016, @08:09PM
> And to think my physics teacher told me I would never live to see extrasolar planets discovered...in 1993. :-D
I've always wondered why anyone would think there are no other planets, or life*, in the universe. I guess we want to be special.
Still, I'm pretty amazed at how quickly we went from public doubters, to discovering them so fast we don't even try to cute-name them.
*: the existence of "life" in the broadest sense imaginable, is pretty certain (to me). Earth-like carbon-based life is a much much much narrower window, though still highly likely statistically.