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Published online 21 November 2008 | Nature | doi:10.1038/news.2008.1248
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Carbon dioxide discovered on distant planet
Gassy signature of habitability spied in the atmosphere of a 'hot Jupiter'.
Carbon dioxide, one of the telltale signs that a planet may be able to support life, has been spotted in the atmosphere of a gas giant orbiting a star 63 light years from Earth.
Although there's no way that this particular planet could support life, being able to spot carbon dioxide in its atmosphere offers hope for probing the atmospheres of planets more like Earth — and so bolstering the search for life outside the Solar System.
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I just don't get it, the moment we find one the basic organic element C,H,O somewhere we become sterotypical,and remain bent of the creed there has to be someone or something similar to humanlife.Lets call a spade a spade ,modern science couldnot uptill now come to a tangible conclusion about the origin of life. By tacit diversion of some renowned scientist we are a creating a myth, and its ironic that science is now more focused on mythbusting , rather than on perceptible issues.
Motiur, I sort of agree. I don't see why life in other parts of the universe must necessarily be made of the same basic building blocks as they are here. Then again, if we're going to start looking, I suppose it makes the most sense to be looking for things that we know MIGHT be markers of life, rather than looking for things that we have no reason to suppose are indicators of possible conditions for living stuff.
I have a complaint with one line in this article: "Although there's no way that this particular planet could support life..." Since when did we become experts on how and where life could exist? Exactly how many probes have we sent into the atmosphere and surface of jupiter or saturn to see what might be there? Never mind sending probes to this planet with CO2 on it. And i dont think we should knock the fact that we see the presence of CO2 as a plus mark for life being outside the solar system. Certainly it's not proof of life, but it does lend more support that the building blocks of what we know of as life exist elsewhere in the universe.
I must disagree with all of you. The only thing they are saying is there is evidence of the presence of carbon dioxide and as far as we know carbon dioxide CAN be associated with life (maybe it is a condition that COULD set the stage for life to occur or it may be the evidence of the presence of life forms simmilar to the only ones we know) but it never says they are possitive of the existence of life down there... The existence of carbon dioxide on other planet´s atmosphere is very interesting because it shows that maybe it not so astronomically imposible to find another planet with conditions very simmilar to Earth´s
Supreme Court aside, anyone have a good piece of reference material establishing, in common agreement, what life is? From such an agreement this planet might have a typical life model with which to discuss any other planetary existence for same. Two recent announcements have me chuckling. One the ?doo-doo-balls? found in the waters off the Bahamas are ?alive?! (single cell) Also from the ocean depths, a totally new specie that has a 95% dissimilarity in genome content than any other known to science. This is a frightfully new life form; at least new to man. So what can we use as a baseline for the term, ?living??
Job well done, detecting an element so far from the planet Earth is quite a remarkable feat in itself. However the question that I would liked answered is, why is the accepted belief that life forms on other planets need water and oxygen to survive and it is also an axiom? The fact that there are other planets out there in space and these planets have some of the same and probably different( undiscovered ) chemicles and elements and so on would leave one to believe that there are in fact different life forms. If we can see them can they see us? The biggest fear is the fear of the unknown, we should as a society or inhabitant of the Planet Earth, Earthling if you will, be ready and willing to embrace the change that we will soon face, it is not a matter of if we find life on another planet but when, they might find us first and have the same quest for discovering the unknown. How can you discover something that is out in plain sight? you cannot, you may be the first to make note of it. I believe that we will soon find what we have been looking for, and it will be here on planet Earth. Will our reasearchers be there to communicate and learn or will the docotrs be there to disect and destroy our chance at inter-planetary travel and understanding of life. In order to find the answer a person must first ask the question, "HOW", doubters need to look no further than the internal combustion engine What question will you ask, when the day comes? I know which one I will, how do I stop the progression of my son's deteriating medical condition because NONE of the medical people here on Earth can? Just a thought,
So many letters, so little thought! Perhaps some of you should take a moment to reflect on the life of Wolf Vishniac (1922-1973), a microbiologist at the University of Rochester (NY). He was asked by NASA to design a device to see if there was life on the surface of our (Earth's) moon. He refused the money. He wanted to test a device first on Earth. He got the wild idea to use a mile-deep crack in the Antarctic ice shelf as a terrestrial "sterile" site, so deep no microbes could possibly have penetrated it. On his first expedition, he found a crevasse, but wanted to go back. He lost his life (December 10, 1973) on that quest. He had refused to accept the easy money offered by NASA, because he was a REAL scientist. He also designed "The Wolf Trap" to test for life on Mars. He was a friend of Carl Sagan. Think about Wolf before you blurt your sentences.
The curiosity inspire the progress. But the vital issue is to pay more attentions to the earth--our living planet.