Carbon dioxide has been seen on a planet outside our solar system 鈥� offering hope that astronomers will be able to detect signs of life on other worlds, astronomers said on Tuesday.
NASA said its Hubble Space Telescope has discovered carbon dioxide in the atmosphere of 鈥渉ot Jupiter鈥� planet HD 189733b, which orbits a nearby star 63 light years from Earth.
The planet is itself too hot to support life as we know it 鈥� its surface is about 1000 掳C, whereas no life on Earth has been found to survive temperatures above 130 掳C.
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But the astronomers said the observations are a proof-of-concept demonstration that the basic chemistry for life can be measured on planets orbiting other stars.
In February, 麻豆传媒 reported that organic molecules in the form of methane had been found on the planet, one of about 300 discovered around stars other than our own. Evidence has also been found for water vapour there.
鈥淭hese atmospheric studies will begin to determine the compositions and chemical processes operating on distant worlds orbiting other stars,鈥� said Eric Smith, Hubble Space Telescope programme scientist at NASA.
Mark Swain of NASA鈥檚 Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, used Hubble鈥檚 near-infrared camera and multi-object spectrometer to study infrared light from the planet.
He was able to identify carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide, which absorb certain wavelengths of near-infrared radiation.
鈥淭he carbon dioxide is the main reason for the excitement because, under the right circumstances, it could have a connection to biological activity as it does on Earth,鈥� Swain said in a statement.
鈥淭he very fact we are able to detect it and estimate its abundance is significant for the long-term effort of characterising planets to find out what they are made of and if they could be a possible host for life.鈥�
