Scientists Spot Organic Molecule on Distant Planet

Scientists Spot Organic Molecule on Distant Planet

www.reuters.com

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - An organic molecule has been spotted for the first time in the atmosphere of a planet outside our solar system, a key step toward possibly finding signs of life on a distant world, scientists said.

Astronomers using the Hubble Space Telescope found methane in the atmosphere of a planet called HD 189733b, which is about the size of Jupiter and is 63 light-years from Earth, they said in research published on Wednesday in the journal Nature.

(visit the link for the full news article)

They say this is the first step in confirming alien life. I think this is a pretty big discovery. It is only a matter of time until they find actual life. IMO

"The idea is to repeat the same kind of observations in the future for planets which are less hostile to the development and evolution of life," she added.

www.reuters.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

[edit on 19-3-2008 by TheComte]

[edit on 19-3-2008 by TheComte]

That planet looks like the kind of thing the minions of hell would reside on.




*establishes mission to unravel the mysteries of embedded movies/pictures*

[edit on 19-3-2008 by Throbber]

Anyway, asides from the aesthetic properties of the planet, i think it's about time them scientists started working on faster propulsion methods, cause it'll take quite a while to send a probe there for more info.

This is very cool, if the building blocks are there it's gotta be a matter of time before we get to hear about the good stuff.

Makes me wonder if this is some more of the disclosure curtain being withdrawn. If it indeed exists of course....

I heard this story on't wireless this afternoon...could someone explain just how the deuce you can spot methane from 63 light years away?

I posted this in another thread this morning without so much as a whisper, I seem to have that affect you know...*sniffle*

What my question is for this discovery are the implications of being able to starseed the planet so that if we by some chance have a cataclysmic event that ends all life on our planet, in say a billion years from now if the conditions continue to sustain the right conditions for ,life we may get another chance at all of this right? Only thing is how do we know that by combining our organic properties with that planets, how do we know that we wont be creating some mutant strain of horror?

reply to post by citizen smith

The article didn't say what method they used, but I would suspect it had something to do with spectrography. That is, they examine the frequency of the light coming from it, and compare that to known characteristics of chemicals.

TheRedneck

reply to post by antar


This particular planet where they found the methane does not have the conditions for life as we know it here on earth. The implication is to start looking for methane on planets more suitable to life, in the hopes they can pinpoint some methane that is biological in origin.

That the planet is hostile to life right now is not very relevant, to be honest.

The presumption is that over time the CH4 (methane) would oxidize somehow (oxygen tied up in a meteor that strikes it?) and form this.

CH4 + 2O2 → CO2 + 2H2O.

Through various processes and time that could lead to



...and then, eventually, this:




.

What everyone seems to forget is that this planet it roughly the size of Jupiter. The gravity on this planet would crush you if we were able to go there and land on it at all. Gravity is the next hurdle after we find a planet that is capable of supporting our type of life.

The finding of a large planet that contains methane is a good discovery, but I wouldn't be packing your bags for this gas giant just yet.

What will happen is eventually we will find a planet or a few planets that are capable of sustaining life like our own. The problem will come when those planets are A So huge or tiny that we will have to genetically alter ourselves in order to colonize that planet and B If/when we get there we will find that it has either already been claimed by another race or it is the home world for another race.

Humans being the nice things we are will of course start a war and annihilate the native people of the planet in order to take it over in this case. IE Neanderthals.

Methane in space ?

Just proves a little flatulence can go a long way, so less of the beans boys n girls.

Next they'll have gas stations out in space, but who can afford the cost ?

On this long trip to reach our next home will we still be able to pick up ATS on our laptops ?

Kind of looks like the planet Apokolips.

Hopefully Xenu's half cousin Darkseid doesn't live there.

Originally posted by whatukno
What everyone seems to forget is that this planet it roughly the size of Jupiter. The gravity on this planet would crush you if we were able to go there and land on it at all. Gravity is the next hurdle after we find a planet that is capable of supporting our type of life.

Doesn't matter. It can go like this...

1. giant planet has methane or other organic molecules or precursors.
2. asteroid hits planet, sending up debris, some of which makes orbit
3. orbiting material impacts a moon of said planet, which, having lower gravity spawns single-celled creature over a few million years.

reply to post by Badge01


Possible certainly. Plausible? I don't deny that there is the possibility of a planet out there in our galaxy that can sustain our type of life. I just think it's gonna be really hard to find.

Originally posted by antar
I posted this in another thread this morning without so much as a whisper, I seem to have that affect you know...*sniffle*

That's probably because this story is already being discussed here:

www.abovetopsecret.com...

and here:

www.abovetopsecret.com...

Edit to add: and here:

www.abovetopsecret.com...

[edit on 20-3-2008 by C.H.U.D.]

There appears to be a lot of mini stories of late and posts that are full of tiny bits of information, true, false or twisted, who knows?

I think it's excellent that this type of discovery is made because those who do not check out sites like this wont be able to handle full disclosure all at once. They will need breaking in gently, so to speak.

If this is how the disclosure of ET life / contact is going to progress it shouldn't take long. Many governments like France and Japan, i think, have been making statements and releasing bits of info on the UFO topic, there are numerous sitings reported (maybe an increase due to current technology) and many more things that all suggest disclosure should be around the corner.

This way, governments can slowly inject the idea of ET life through the media and, over a period of time, you will no longer be a honey nut loop for believing in the obviuos.

Remirah

Well, I guess we should not consider that life can evolve only in similar environments to Earth. I would not wonder to find inter-galactic life, that actually is not linked to any planet at all - just from space clouds .. a virtual simmulation would provide more info on how life could evolve on Jupiter-sized planets.

Originally posted by whatukno
reply to post by Badge01

 

Possible certainly. Plausible?

I don't deny that there is the possibility of a planet out there in our galaxy that can sustain our type of life. I just think it's gonna be really hard to find.

Yeah, I get your point. It's hard to apply 'probability tags' to events like that.

I agree with Dr. Seth Shostak of S.E.T.I. who states, that the Galaxy is probably 'teeming' with life but it's probably just single-celled and multi-celled creatures. AND there is no credible evidence so far that they are coming here, to Earth.

I don't think having such a mild belief in non-terrestrial life damages one's scientific cred., nor does it have any real impact on what we do or what we know. It's almost irrelevant since, so far, I don't see conclusive evidence they are coming here in tiny spacecraft (or large ones)

We don't demonstrate the capability to go there, and, as of late (post Apollo) don't demonstrate the ability to go much beyond Low Earth Orbit. Thus irrelevant and speculative (IMO).

In fact, it might be that there is no carbon-based life out there and it's all Silicon-based (a similar molecule to Carbon in that it can make multiple bonds).

Hope this clarifies.