Aqua et Velva
First planet with water is spotted outside Solar System
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View of a star cluster in outer space. Astronomers on Wednesday announced they had spotted the first planet beyond the Solar System that has water, the precious ingredient for life.(AFP/NASA-HO/File)
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Wed Jul 11, 1:58 PM ETPARIS (AFP) - Astronomers on Wednesday announced they had spotted the first planet beyond the Solar System that has water, the precious ingredient for life.The watery world, though, is far beyond the reach of our puny chemically-powered rockets — and in any case is quite uninhabitable.It is made of gas rather than rock and its atmosphere reaches temperatures hot enough to melt steel, which means the water exists only as superheated steam.The find, named HD189733b, is about 15 percent bigger than our Jupiter and orbits a star in the constellation of Vulpecula the Fox, according to a paper released by Nature, the weekly British science journal.
It was spotted by a team led by Giovanna Tinetti of the European Space Agency (ESA) and University College London.
As HD 189733b swung in front of its star, it absorbed part of the spectrum of starlight in a telltale way that can only be explained by the presence of water in its atmosphere, the discoverers say.
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Images: (Pointing hand) st-john.ki2.nd.us; Planet Photos From Top Left: Clockwise– (#1 & #2) NorthCollierRegionPark photo via challengesports.com;(#3 & #4) MagicWatersWaterPark via gorockford.com;(#5) GreatWolfWaterPark via hotelchatter.com; (#6) alibab.com;
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